Adonis and Aphroditus (10 page)

She knew deep down in her very being that
Apis didn’t have much time left on this Earth if he wasn’t freed.
He was covered with sores from the shots and samples they took that
no longer healed properly. She wasn’t suppose to even know he was
there but she had discovered him when she had snuck off alone to
cry when they had told her she was pregnant.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want a baby
someday. It was that she knew it was too soon for her to even think
of it. She had a minimum wage job, a dumpy room in a boarding
house, no extra money for any baby stuff, and she’d be squatting in
the floor alone trying to give birth if her work hadn’t extended
her prenatal care and delivery because she didn’t have the money to
pay for either. Now she was going to lose that too. There was no
way around it, she’d have to go to her sister.

Nettie was her older sister and had raised
her like a mother. Their mother had died when Julie had been born.
They’d had a live in nanny for the first two years but their father
had struggled to pay for it. By the time Julie was two and a half
and Nettie eight, there’d been no one to see to them when their
father was working. He’d put in long hours and often worked
weekends. In order for Nettie to care for Julie, she had been
homeschooled.

She was a smart girl and worked at her own
pace moving through faster than the average child. She had
graduated by fifteen and while Julie wasn’t as brilliant as her
sister, she was slightly above average too. She had chosen to go to
public school where she coasted through as a B student with little
to no effort. She wasn’t the most popular girl in school but she
had plenty of friends and was invited to all the big activities.
Their father had died of a heart attack when she was fifteen and
Nettie finished raising her. It was sad to say, but if they hadn’t
known he’d died, they wouldn’t have noticed. He was their father
and they loved him but he hadn’t been around enough to make an
impression on either of them.

None of those things from the past really
mattered now. She was pregnant and her baby was more important than
her pride or the feeling that Nettie would be upset with her. She
would call her before the gods arrived so she would know what was
going on. She owed it to her to be open and honest. She would tell
her about the baby and the gods. That would be tomorrow, for now
she had to finish her shift and get things cleaned up here. She
might manage to see Apis and whisper words of encouragement. He was
barely hanging on.

She moved from the offices on the top floor
to the bathrooms at the end of the hall. The little bathroom where
the urine samples were taken was always hardest to clean because
they seemed to hit everything but the cup. This floor was the
fertility clinic. The bottom floor was a warehouse and a small
portion was a prison. She thought they kept children there too at
one time because once in a while she use to hear them cry. If their
rooms had been like Apis’ cell, it was no wonder they had let out
mournful cries. It was dark, dank, and dirty, the place where one
abandoned all hope and sank into abject misery. It had the smell
that made Julie think of a grave, only Apis lived, barely.

She cleaned the bathrooms and now all she had
left was the bathrooms and break rooms downstairs. Sometime during
the cleaning, which was night shift work, she would slip away to
speak to Apis. Since it was night and only one guard was on duty
inside, she went when he left to go to lunch. He met his girlfriend
away from the facility and often stayed gone longer than he should.
No one ever came at night so he got away with it and she got away
with visiting Apis.

She finished up the bathrooms, the ones down
here were easy since they only had a handful of men working down
here. She took the cart that held all the cleaning supplies and
took it to one of the offices she had already cleaned. She’d lock
it up with her key so no one would know where she was and once that
was done, she slipped down the hallway. Cameras were only on the
outside doors since they used the security system that had already
been installed to save money.

It was lucky for her and Apis that they had
done that. She stopped in the break room where there was always
food sitting out. She grabbed half a dozen stale donuts. Yes, they
put out food for their employees, but they bought the day old ones.
They didn’t like their people leaving during the shift. She had
been cautioned against that and told to find something to clean but
never leave early. She had found Apis a couple months ago and he
was looking a little better since he had started eating the donuts
she brought him. It helped, but it just wasn’t enough when they
kept abusing him so much.

She headed down the hallway listening for any
signs that the guard was still there or had come back. For the last
month, he had been regular as clockwork. She used her key to get in
the restricted area. It was good that it was a metal key and not a
card that would show access. She supposed that they were lax with
security here. She was glad of it and she knew Apis was as well.
She closed the door behind her and it locked automatically.

“You came. I told you it was too dangerous,
Julie. Don’t come again,” Apis growled.

She knew he worried about her and she didn’t
let it hurt her feelings. She handed him the donuts through the
bars and he took them and hid them under his bed. If anyone found
them, they would know she had brought them to him. It would cost
her freedom at least, if not her life. She cared about Apis and she
couldn’t imagine a world without him. She thought he considered
them friends too. Since she was here she stood near the bars and
let Apis rub her belly. The baby always kicked when he did and Apis
always grinned.

“You know you’d miss me if I didn’t come
visit you. Besides, no one else feeds you much.”

He looked at her, he was so intense that he
made her feel like a misbehaving child. She knew coming to see him
was the right thing to do and with his people coming tomorrow, she
had to make sure he lived long enough to be saved. She saw the
condition he was in and she wasn’t stupid. If she hadn’t fed him
these last few weeks, he’d already be dead. Maybe she wasn’t brave
like her sister, but she would do what had to be done even if she
shivered in her shoes while she did it.

She stayed a little while talking to him
about things they liked. Apis hadn’t been allowed to do much in a
while. He said they had always limited what they were allowed to do
and the things others took for granted were rewards he was rarely
able to earn. These days food and a bath were a reward and he
couldn’t get those either. To say she felt for him would be an
understatement. He was like her best friend ever if you didn’t
count her sister.

Nettie was everything good and right in an
uncertain world. She was the calm and the peace in the middle of
the craziness. Julie knew it was all on her for not bringing Nettie
into her insanity sooner. The truth was it had been a pride thing.
Nettie had wanted Julie to stay home, to go to college, and to just
let her help so Julie wouldn’t have to struggle to get by. Julie
had told her that she wanted to do it on her own, she couldn’t rely
on Nettie forever. So when everything had gone to hell in a hand
basket, Julie had been too embarrassed to tell her big sister that
she’d messed it all up.

How do you tell the person you love more than
anyone that not only did you drop out of college, but you’re
pregnant with no father in sight? A minimum wage job is the best
you can do and you work for criminals because it’s illegal to lock
up a god. Now to top everything off, she was risking her life and
that of her baby. That was the part Nettie
would
understand.
She always said you had to stand up for what was right. You had to
protect those that couldn’t protect themselves. Nettie had always
wanted to make a difference and she did. She had been in the army
for five years and now she was a detective.

She was young to have worked her way up so
high in the police department. Nettie was smart, beautiful, strong,
and something Julie could never be, brave. Nettie would have
already had this situation resolved and Apis saved. Julie wished
for the millionth time in her life that she was more like Nettie.
It just wasn’t going to happen. She would always be weak and a
chicken shit. She looked at Apis and almost cried at how bad he
looked. She dug into her purse which was more like a beach bag and
pulled out a one gallon zip lock bag.

“Here’s a washcloth. You can wash everywhere
they can’t see,” she suggested then turned bright red when she
realized the implications of what she had just said.

Apis had water, the lazy guards didn’t want
to have to remember to bring it to him, but it was set on a slow
drip so he had to stand there forever just to get a handful of
water. She’d brought him a cup that he hid in a hole cut in his
mattress. He couldn’t let anyone know about the cup. They would
wonder where it came from.

“I have to go,” Julie said shyly as she
stepped up against the bars and gave him a hug.

She felt the warmth of friendship surround
her. She had strong feelings for this man, this god. She wondered
if she would ever see him again once he was free. She felt dizzy
and she stepped back taking a deep breath. She had to hold her
breath when she was close to him because the smell was so bad. If
she wasn’t prego she might be able to stand it, but right now her
stomach was sensitive and the smell too much.

She slipped out into the hall where she heard
voices. Shit! Not only was the guard back, but he had company. She
slipped into the bathroom but kept the door cracked. They stopped
outside the door to the hallway that led to Apis.

“Damn boss, I don’t want to move again,” the
guard, she thought his name was John, whined.

The man he spoke to jerked his head around
shooting him a hard look. “Then don’t. We can always find a
replacement for you.”

John paled and quickly said, “It’s okay,
Boss. Whatever you say, that’s what I’ll do.”

“Very good, John. It won’t be so bad. New
Orleans is a great place to live.”

“I’m sure it is, Sir.”

They went through the door and Julie couldn’t
hear anymore. She made a break for the office her cart was in. She
turned on the light and pretended to clean it again. She moved
slowly so it would take some time and she was glad she did when ten
minutes later the guard and his boss came into the office.

“Oh, sorry. We didn’t mean to interrupt you.
Will you be done soon?” asked the boss. He was tall and lean with
brown curly hair and a receding hairline. His eyes were too close
together and a pale blue. He leered at her and his eyes roamed over
her body.

“I’m almost done,” she replied trying to
sound friendly but professional. She checked the trash can and
wiped off the desk. “It’s all yours.” She hurried to get her cart
the hell out of there. The door closed and she heard the lock click
as she left.

Her knees were weak and her stomach was doing
flip flops. She thought she might pass out and she was attempting
to take slow deep breaths. The worst part was that the baby was
kicking and rolling around reacting to his mother’s fear even
though there was nothing the babe could do about it. She wanted to
cry but fought hard not to because if she saw someone later, they
might question what was wrong. She didn’t want to attract any
attention. She needed to contact the god, Afrod, he’d said his name
was, and warn them that action was imminent. She was concerned
enough that they might get here too late.

She finished her shift and managed to hurry
out without attracting any attention. She would call Afrod first to
let him know about the complication of the proposed move they were
planning. She made it to her car and headed up to the gate. The
guard opened it and she drove out. They never checked for stolen
items or anything else. They had gotten lazy, lax, and she was glad
of it. If the gods could get here and go in right away, it would be
much easier due to the poor security.

She made it home, took a shower, dressed for
bed, and got her phone. The number that Afrod had given her was on
her list. Afrod was funny and he could make her laugh. He had also
inspired her confidence when he had sworn he would see to her
safety. Once the gods dealt with freeing Apis, she would go back
home to her sister and get her life on track. She had been a proud
fool to stay away and struggle on her own.

She pushed the button and she could hear the
phone ring. Once, twice, and finally he answered. “Julie?”

“Yes, it’s me. I had to call you to let you
know tonight after I saw Apis, the guard and a guy I’ve not seen
before walked by the office I was in. I listened in and they’re
planning to relocate to New Orleans.”

“I thought we agreed you were to stay away
from Apis and take no chances until we get there to spring
him.”

“You just don’t understand, Afrod, his life
hangs by a thread. I think they’ve stopped feeding him. If not for
me, he’d already be dead.”

“That makes no sense, why would they starve
him to death?”

“I don’t know, but they also take samples
from him daily. He’s no longer healing, I’m worried for him.”

“It will be okay, Julie. Please be careful,
we’ll be there tonight and I’ll call you. Are you working
tonight?”

“Yes, nothings been said about them leaving
officially, yet.”

“They wouldn’t tell you. You’d just go to
work and find everything locked down and everyone gone. I’ll call
you later in the morning. Everything is on track like we
discussed.”

They said goodbye and hung up. She felt
pensive now but she was still determined to get back to basics. She
owed this baby a family and without a father to claim the baby that
meant her sister Nettie would be the child’s only other family.
Julie knew it was long past time for the call she was about to
make. She hit the call button by Nettie’s name and listened to the
ring. She almost backed out, she was embarrassed she’d stopped
calling her sister. She’d focused on her own failure instead of the
love that had always held her and Nettie together.