West Eight
Sarah
He is life. . . for us. . .
It was very challenging to describe what it was like being paranormally linked with Johnny, and then also linked with the mystical creature he adored.
All I can do is explain the glimpses shown to me.
And somehow I also came to feel some of what they felt.
In all the Universe chose to reveal to me, I learned of a love story that knew no bounds.
That could never be contained, no matter how many waves of life or miles came between them.
Why did their connection to us grow while we slept?
Maybe without our human thoughts owning our minds, there was space for this progression.
The glimpses into other lives strengthened, especially emotionally.
While I slept, I was shown glimpses from another’s point of view, reliving their experiences…
The sun broke through to reveal the atrocity: my family, my sea folk, had been decimated. Their blood became part of the water, all with messages, but it was all so overwhelming that my shattered heart couldn’t hear all they needed me to know.
Then, I heard the bellow of a human father screaming out for his son. “Maaaaddoooooox!”
The mystical swimmer knew this was Lennox Gentry. The son of River Styx.
A splash in the water had me swimming as fast as I could, hoping there was something to salvage.
That is when I saw the precious boy, injured, reaching out for the yellow material Lennox wore when on his two-wheeled vehicle.
When he did this, my family’s blood recognized him and rushed to his wound, wanting to bind with him so they could communicate with my youth.
But everything we were is what caused the explosion…
I couldn’t let that happen to such pure innocence. So, I wrapped his finger with his father’s material so they couldn’t invade…
When I was young, I hadn’t learned all the knowledge yet.
It took time, maturity, and inner strength to handle the power…
Yet when I held his hand to swim him to the surface, my family was already at work.
The source reached out to me. As I swam toward the air this boy needed, I felt him.
His young self, his older self, and the being who would love me beyond the end of time on earth.
I sat up, holding my aching chest. “Johnny,” I cried, because I understood being young and not ready for life’s lessons. Peering around my bedroom, I understood being an orphan.
Tears dripped down my face as I realized the connection. Every person whom Johnny blessed with a blood oath was literally the same. All without blood family, all at the mercy of destiny.
I held up my palm that had healed perfectly. “Until now.”
Getting out of bed, I scrambled to slip on sneakers. Then I ran, as quietly as always, to the back door of the house. After disarming the security system, I went to one of my favorite people in the world.
My knees buckled at his grave. “Caleb,” I cried, my hands catching me before I crumbled fully.
“We’re still connected.” In gratitude, I clutched my hands together at my chest. “I feel you now.” I closed my eyes and faced the dark sky.
“I thought I’d lost you.” Tears dripped down my neck.
“You will always love me, beyond your time on this earth.”
Crying relieved tears helped. Like the dancing water stars.
I inhaled deeply. “Tears are meant to cleanse.”
I pressed a kiss to my fingertips, then sent them into the sky. “Thank you, Caleb.”
Hoping I would feel Blue like this someday, I felt thankful for the visit that night.
Now it was time for more revelations.
I heard the door crack open and was stunned to see Sebastian fully dressed in black clothing, sneaking out of the house. Not seeing me, he closed the door, then jogged toward the front of the house with a set of keys in his hand.
What is a friend to do other than follow? So, I did.
When I knocked on the driver’s window, he jumped in his seat. Held his chest when he saw it was me.
I whispered, “I don’t know what you’re doing, but I’m coming with.”
He shook his head while rolling down the window. “No—”
“Or I’ll scream.”
I didn’t know you had such a stink eye in ya, but I’m still going with you. I opened my mouth and took a deep breath, ready to wake everyone in the house.
“Fine,” Seb rushed. “But you’re staying in Tonka.”
Whatever. I rushed around the hood of the jeep, glaring and daring him to try to pull away without me. Once inside, I gestured to his criminal outfit. “Interesting.”
He snarled at my duck PJs. “Nauseating.”
Rude! “Who we robbin’ tonight?”
Unlike Bertha, the Jeep’s engine wasn’t loud. We drove away without waking anyone. “We ain’t doing shit. I’m spying on the pastor.”
Instantly, my stomach rolled. “By the way Ethan hugged me, I thought you guys were planning an attack without me.” I lifted my chin. “I’m glad you’re not alone.”
“No attack planned. He lives for now.”
“I prefer we gut him.”
Driving, Sebastian smirked at me. “I thought you were no longer on my team.”
Pfft! “Him dying slowly and painfully is not an issue for me. I’d personally love a chance at his innards with an egg scrambler. What I’m not on board with is one of those who I love getting caught and punished for it. I’d rather—” I didn’t finish my sentence. I felt like a broken record.
“Well, Johnny’s not here.”
Staring out the passenger window, I nodded, even though I had just witnessed him, so young and tiny, drowning. “Seb, do you think the crimes against us all, at such young ages, give us a Heaven ‘pass’ with any future crimes we commit?”
He stared past the steering wheel for a bit, gripping the leather. Then, finally, he said, “I hope so, or how will I ever see Blue again?”
A sob broke free before I could swallow it down. Even though I now believed tears were cleansing, I wasn’t sure if angry Seb wanted to see them while on the way to spy on his girlfriend’s murdering father. Seb felt far from Blue’s grace. I was hoping he would soon feel her, like I just did Caleb.
I begged Seb, “I promise to run away if anything goes wrong. Just… please don’t block me on this revenge.”
He growled, “If I say go back to the Jeep, you gonna argue?”
“No way.”
We parked the Jeep down the road between some trees and started walking toward the pastor’s place.
He lived at the end of the street in a quiet neighborhood with lots of land around him.
On the property were a few modest homes that were so alike they were hard to distinguish one from the other.
Only tiny differences like the color of the flowers or the front doors set them apart.
The lots all seemed to be the same size except for the pastor’s.
Getting closer, now there were many more homes.
Manufactured ones. The full comprehension of what he was planning began to sink in.
The pastor was building a fenced-in community.
Construction on another church was already in progress.
Tall gates were being erected around this property and beyond, spreading across the other houses on his street.
It was then that I remembered the video Seb had watched, where the pastor had bragged about the safety he provided his congregation.
And what Seb had just said about protecting strangers also.
I got the unsettling sense someone wanted to compete with the famous Warren Jeffs. Quietly, I said, “What kind of holy fuckery is happening here?”
The pastor we were dealing with had the audacity to describe this new construction in an online article, but what he didn’t reveal his true intentions.
Seb’s eyes saddened as he stared at the fence. “He’s accomplished so much in such a short amount of time.” A determined flex of his jaw proved he wasn’t shocked by this news. He must have snuck out more than once before tonight.
“All those innocents he invited online and during his interview. The bastard is preparing for new members for his church… and their children.” A violent urge to throw up had me bending over, placing my hands on my knees.
“He’s looking for new victims,” Seb seethed. Then he looked at me as if I had sprouted another head. He grabbed my hand. “Tonka. Now.”
I didn’t know what happened or what he saw, but I ran, hand in his hand, until back in Tonka, racing away.
“What was I thinking?” He cursed to himself. “I should’ve never brought you.”
I laid a hand on his arm. “Seb, I’m okay. Slow down so we don’t get pulled over.”
The Jeep slowed to a permissible speed.
Once back home, we quietly parked and snuck through the backyard. Sebastian said he needed to get some air before going back inside. I understood. We both had empty rooms now.
What I didn’t expect was to be greeted by a pissed Ethan. He angrily whispered, “Where were you?”
“With Caleb.” It wasn’t a lie. I just failed to mention I was also snooping around the pastor’s place.
“Oh.” Ethan instantly calmed. “I didn’t see you out there.” He headed for the bedroom door. “See ya in the morning.”
I lifted my hand to stop him, but he left so quickly I missed my chance.
Exhausted from the night, I gently fell backward, landing on the bed. I exhaled, kicked off my shoes, and let my eyes close, only to immediately fall into another dream.
With all the strength my little fin had, I held the boy and lifted him onto the seawall in front of his father’s home…
I rubbed my nose to his, how my mother would to me, trying to express how much I already adored him…
Men in black leather vests were frantically looking for a boy named Maddox…
From under the water, I watched a flying machine take the boy away…
When the boy didn’t return, I grew so sad. I missed him dearly. With no family now, I was utterly alone. My only friend became River Styx. He named me Saleeni. Then, one day, River no longer visited me.