Walking Among the Shadows: Awakening: Revised Edition

by Navi' Robins

  www.navirobins.com

  Copyright © 2014 by NorthShore Publishing Inc.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the

  product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to

  actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN: 069229774X

  ISBN-13: 978-0692297742

  To Kai and Rosemary

  Gone but never forgotten. We miss you.

  LOVE IN A WORLD OF DARKNESS

  Escape the darkness and embrace the light of my heart,

  Feel the warmth of my love as it leads your soul from the dark,

  Our flesh may divide us but our love unites us,

  War may ignite us but our love entices us,

  What is forbidden one day will be forgiven,

  We are Shadow and Light united,

  Under one banner, one cause and one purpose,

  With love on our side not even God can hurt us,

  We are the shadow on the moon and the light after the storm,

  We are love found in chaos and war,

  We are love until time is no more,

  Enter my light and embrace me in your darkness,

  We are love and in love we shall be until death takes you and me….

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  First I would like to give all honor to the Creator.

  It would have been nearly impossible to complete this body of work without the support and help from a woman that gave me strength, courage, and love to pursue my dreams. Clara I love you, always and forever.

  To my inspirations; Mercy, Aiden, Jazz, Alexia, Jezzy and Eden.

  To my Mom and Dad for always believing in me even when I didn’t believe in myself.

  To Naomi Long, the Artful Editor.

  To Maurice for being the best friend and honest ear anyone could possibly hope for.

  And to my brothers and sister, for the sibling comedy relief that provided the needed vacation from the trials and woes of writing my first novel.

  CHAPTER ONE

  I was completely covered in shadow, blood, and exhaustion as I stumbled towards what used to be the front door. Now it was cracked down the middle and hanging off the hinges from the violence that took place here tonight. The house reeked of burnt flesh and death and I needed to get outside and into the night air before I passed out from the stench. It was a little difficult opening the damaged door, and the scraping sound it made while I attempted to pull it open sent a dark and hallowed sound throughout the house. As I opened the door the cool air from outside rushed in, attempting to sweep away the gloom and smells of the horrible happenings that occurred here. But I knew it would take much more than the cool night air to cleanse the filth that lay throughout the halls of this Spaniard estate.

  Stepping outside, the downpour greeted me with a thunderous round of applause as it washed over everything in the darkness around me. I imagined myself on the stage of a large amphitheater covered in blood and shame with judging eyes staring straight through me.

  Take a bow you sick bastard. You’ve outdone yourself tonight.

  I made a mental note that once my brother arrived I would submit myself to the rain; letting it wash away all the blood and filth that covered my body. I knew I would never forget this night but I was hoping the rain would help me to forgive. I sat down on the front step leading into the house and just stared out into the unknown darkness in front of me. It’s been over an hour since I spoke to Manny on the phone and no one has shown up yet.

  Where were they? With everything’s that’s happened how could they take so long to get here? I may not be a military genius but it just didn’t make sense and I wondered if the Navy decided to lighten their requirements for promoting leaders in their ranks? Manny was too impulsive and incompetent to be allowed to lead anyone. But again I’m no military genius, so what the hell did I know?

  I wondered about the lasting affect this night would have and what Karma had in store for me after what I’d just done. I promised myself I was done killing, but tonight I was more brutal than I anticipated; driven mad by revenge and by the time my rage was satisfied I’d sent multiple souls to the afterlife.

  After another thirty minutes or so I started to hear the footsteps and vehicles of my brother’s team approaching the house. Before long they had the entire area lit up and began searching around the estate. They would periodically yell “Clear!” after they felt an area was secured. I chuckled to myself because I knew I was the reason for so much death here tonight and they all knew what I was capable of. So how could they feel secure anywhere around this house while I still drew breath?

  Oh, here comes Manny now, this should be interesting.

  “Aiden, what happened here?”

  I wanted to answer him, but why should I? He left our family with guards so clueless they couldn’t stop a kitten with a tank. He should’ve been here; the mighty, highly decorated eldest son. But he decided to give the responsibility of protecting his family to someone else and when death came knocking they let me in. And now he’s concerned and wants to know what happened?

  “Aiden, I’m talking to you! Where are Mom, Sarah, and our grandparents?”

  “They’re inside,” I answered rolling my eyes.

  “Are they okay? Are they alive?”

  “Go inside and see for yourself, Manny.”

  Manny sighed while looking at the two men on either side of him and gestured for them to move inside the house. Manny knelt down in front of me looking in my eyes trying to read me.

  “Aiden, how many are there inside? How many are dead?”

  The question sparked a feeling of pain and anguish inside of me as I began to count the number of victims who lost their lives here tonight. All because of what I am.

  “Seven, including an eleven-year-old boy,” I answered, looking Manny in the eyes with the look of a madman ready to snap again.

  Manny almost fell back on his ass at the revelation that a child lay dead inside our grandparents’ home.

  “Who was he?”

  “Who?”

  “The boy Aiden, the eleven-year-old boy.”

  “Jason’s son, he was Jason’s only son.”

  “What’s his name?”

  “He was already dying before I was able to play nice and get that info from him,” I replied looking upward towards the dark and flashing night sky. Manny became annoyed realizing he wasn’t going to get any more answers out of me; so he decided to go inside the house and leave me outside by myself.

  On this night at the age of seventeen, seven people lay dead inside our grandparents home and among them an eleven-year-old boy; whose father I’d once loved as a father. But this wasn’t the first time I’ve killed someone and I can tell you now, it wasn’t the last. Actually, thinking back on my life and tallying up the body count I’d accumulated, I have to admit that compared to what I’ve done after that night…it was a pretty lack luster performance for me. But during the initial stages of my life being turned upside down; this was a world-changing experience. I often wondered how did it ever come to this, what drove me to such lengths? As morbid as this scene is I can expect my answer would be even more absurd…it was love. Love drove me to do these terrible things and by the time I could pause and reflect, I wasn’t sure if I would have done things differently if given a second chance.

  I was lost and nothing made sense. What I wanted to be seemed worlds away and who I used to be was being torn away with every life I took; leaving behind an empty shell. So it
came as no surprise that the old Aiden also died that night and all I wanted to do was wash away whatever was left of the old me.

  The storm began to intensify around me seemingly inviting me to join its violent bombardment of the Spanish coastal landscape. Welcoming me into is wet and cool embrace. I was done fighting the darkness that was growing inside of me. It was time to accept who and what I was now and stop trying to resurrect an already lost soul. With each passing second the storm seemed to entice me further to step out from under the protection of the front porch to dance in the wind and rain.

  Ok, let’s dance.

  Inhaling deeply I wiped away the remaining blood from my hands, slowly stood up, and began walking in the rain…

  CHAPTER TWO

  My name is Aiden Storm and I will be your guide on this dark and amazing journey that has become my life. So before we get started, remain seated, fasten your seat belts and please don’t feed what lurks within the shadows….they may bite your arm off.

  Along this odyssey you will experience pain, violence, hatred, betrayal and despair; but you will also experience unconditional love, and learn just how blind love can be. I understand better than most that love is truly blind. It doesn’t care about the color of your skin, your social status, religious beliefs, or even the concept of good and evil. Love exists whether you believe or not. It doesn’t matter if love finds you or not, it’s still out there, choosing the unworthy to experience its miracle. Many that have loved and lost consider themselves victims. But love doesn’t create victims….we do. We force ourselves and others to feel ashamed for being chosen by love’s graceful embrace. We hide or deny our true feelings; too afraid to take a chance and without faith in love we prevent love from becoming a permanent part of our lives. We freak out at the idea of happiness because we’ve been taught if it’s too good it isn’t true. Influenced by negative people and their bad experiences. But what do they know? Nothing, they are just jealous that love didn’t find a more colorful way to reveal her existence to them. Poor hateful bastards!

  Love found me eighteen years ago to the day and it has been an epic battle to keep her in my heart. There were times I felt like the universe was against someone like me being in love. Through it all I’ve been heartbroken, tortured, and discouraged, but I never gave up on love. The thought never crossed my mind. I was willing to move heaven and earth and the only thing that’s changed is I’m willing to do more.

  I’ve learned a few important things about love as I embarked on my journey in life. One is sacrifice; I have to be willing to sacrifice all my selfish hang-ups and fears to allow real love into my life. Two, trust; I have to trust that love is the reason for our actions and not selfish motives and mind games. But most importantly I’ve learned never play with love; because if you joke with love she may not stay around long enough to hear the punch line.

  In order for you to fully understand my decent into the shadows you must first know who I am and where I come from. I am the middle son of three siblings: two boys and a girl. The oldest being Manuel Storm Jr., or affectionately known to us as Manny. Back then he was twenty-six years old, I was sixteen, and Sarah, the baby in every essence of the word, was fifteen.

  My family lives in Deerfield, Illinois; a small well-to-do suburb about forty minutes outside the city of Chicago with beautiful homes, premium shopping, and corporate complexes. We moved here when my dad got stationed at the naval training base in North Chicago, Illinois, which is about twenty minutes from our home. Neither Manny nor I were born here in Illinois. We were both born in Hawaii. But I never got the chance to take full advantage of Hawaii’s beautiful weather because I was just a toddler when we moved here. Manny did and he and Mom really hated the winters here but strangely we never moved back. Sarah, on the other hand was born here.

  Our heritage hails from three different continents; with Spaniard, Native American and Brazilian blood running through our veins. Dad’s side of the family carried the Spaniard and Native American lineage and my mom lending the Brazilian side. My Dad was a towering well-built man with dark brown hair, chiseled facial features, and light green eyes. Mom would say that our dad was so attractive; calling him cute or handsome was an insult. Monkeys are cute, the actor Brad Pitt is handsome, Dad; she would say, was beautiful. The only man she felt confident calling beautiful but Dad didn’t share in her relaxed demeanor of referring to him as beautiful. He was a harden “Frogman” and being called beautiful didn’t reflect well on his many military accomplishments.

  Manuel Storm Sr., our dad died back in 1994. His plane was shot down during a so-called “routine” exercise over Iraqi airspace. The Iraqis claimed they did not fire on any aircrafts and the U.S. government denied any operations over Iraqi airspace that day. His body was never recovered and the details of his mission have never been revealed to us.

  I vaguely remember my dad because I was so young but his absence and the effect it had on me was still prominent. Sarah never got to know him because she wasn’t born yet when we lost him. Manny and our mom took his death the hardest because they got to live with and know our father and love the man he was. Manny wanted to be so much like our dad so to honor his memory Manny joined The Navy Seals. My mom was so proud of him; we all were. He’s always been like a piece of Dad left behind to look after us. Sarah and I, on the other hand are more like our mother because she’s all we’ve known.

  Manny has been our father figure for as long as I can remember. I have to admit it was a lot to put on a teenager’s shoulders and he had such a hard time adjusting over the years. Getting into all kinds of trouble and rebelling over the loss of our father but eventually he came through it stronger and more determined. Mom feels sometimes he pushes himself too hard and they argue constantly about him being an individual and not a carbon copy of Dad. Manny couldn’t stomach anymore of their confrontations and decided to stay away as much as possible and only visited during our birthdays and major holidays. It was hard at first not having Manny around but eventually you either have to adjust with change or fight it. We decided to adjust.

  My grandfather would often say that Mom was a Brazilian witch that put a love hex on my dad. To a stranger it appeared his description of her indicated he didn’t approve of our mom. But my grandpa had no ill feelings towards her. Grandpa was kinda weird and when he had a few drinks in him he would rant on for hours about witches, warlocks, and other forces fighting for the souls of mankind. I thought this old man was on his way to the nut house in a straitjacket. But I would learn later in life that even while tipsy he was the sanest of us all.

  If my mom was a witch she didn’t need spells to capture any man’s attention. She is the younger of two girls, my late auntie Gloria being the eldest. I know this may sound self-serving being that I am telling my own story and it would benefit me to say my mother is a very beautiful woman, but truthfully she is and her former career as one of the world’s top super models validates my claim.

  So there…(insert me sticking my tongue out here)

  Sarah, the resident gremlin was a spitting image of our mom. Possessing her caramel colored skin and long silky black hair. You could almost say they were twins. Almost…because although they may look alike their personalities were like night and day. Mom was humble and never used her beauty as an advantage over others. Sarah on the other hand was arrogant and sarcastic; she knew how attractive she was and she used it to her advantage every chance she got.

  I am a mixture of both of my parents. I have my dad’s light brown skin color, well defined facial features and green eyes. From my mother I have her hair color and texture; minus the length of course. My mom says my brooding nature scares off a lot of girls because they assume I’m unapproachable. Which isn’t true, any girl can approach me. Well…wait a second not any girl. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have any self-esteem issues. I know what I’m working with. I look in the mirror every day and get more compliments than the average teen. But I must admit back then I was so introverted I
had a hard time feeling comfortable talking to girls and the ones I was comfortable talking to were friends or friends’ of friends.

  Talking to girls I knew made it easier for me to open up and being that I kind of knew them, I already had an idea of what kind of situation I was getting myself into. But then again dating wasn’t that important for me. I like girls a lot but they were just not a big priority in my life back then. I wanted to get into Harvard Law School and even though our family’s money could get me in, I still wanted to graduate Valedictorian with honors.

  There were a lot of ultra-exclusive clubs and fraternities at Harvard and the ones I was interested in only wanted those with the best academic resume. I needed to focus and girls have a knack for breaking that focus. I was only sixteen and I wasn’t willing to sacrifice my future on a girl and a possible “Mom, I got something to tell you” conversation. My mom would’ve killed me if I ever came home with that kind of drama.

  Manny didn’t share in my enthusiasm in going to college and wanted Sarah and I to enlist. He began his grooming early by enrolling Sarah and me in self-defense classes. I’d been practicing Thai Boxing and other martial arts for twelve years and by the time I was sixteen I’d already won several regional tournaments. Sarah on the other hand, fell in love with Ninjutsu. Go figure, huh? With her personality it was a perfect fit. Try and steal a kiss and have a Ninja star lodged in your ass. I pitied the fool who tried to make her do something she didn’t want to…the image was horrifying.

  Sarah was excited about joining the Navy and hopefully becoming a Navy pilot. Me, on the other hand—I wasn’t going to the military. Manny and I argued constantly about my decision but I would not budge. I wanted to be more than a grunt. I always wanted to help the world around me. Be more significant than normal and make a real difference, not just some token contribution. Thinking back on the fall of 2009 when everything I believed was turned upside down and the world became a much darker place; I had no idea how significant I would be.