Harmonizer's Evolution (Balancer's Soul cycle) (8 page)

“
SURPRISE
!!!” Several voices shouted
simultaneously
.

Sarah
froze in the doorway as multicolored confetti
flew in
her
direction
.
Her
heart seemed to skip a few times before getting back on track and
she had to stop her
muscles from rip
ping the door from its hinges. She
didn’t
know what
i
s going on nor did she
know how to react.
Why did they say
surprise
? What is going on around here?
Her
mind
continued
racing
, looking for a rational conclusion
. Before
her instincts
could think about fleeing
Sarah
wa
ited to see what
i
s going on. She
had to slow
her
mind down and wait to see
the
surroundings.

Jenny’s living room looked different.

On the coffee table stood a small mountain of wrapped boxes
,
in a variety of colors. Along the walls were boarders lined in pink ribbons and the floor was coated in flower petals and by the smell
,
were roses. She
also catalogued the smell of
a variety of
food
s
, but there
weren’t any in this room. T
hen there were
the four figures in front of her
.

Jenny stood tall
, proud and calm
and
she
wore a
fashionable
sundress. Kara
grinned from ear to ear and
wore a pink halter-top and beige shorts.
Jillian
smiled a not so innocent smile along with
wearing
a luscious red dress. Then finally stood Rhoda
,
wearing something uncharacteristic
and frightening
. She was wearing a plaid shirt and jean shorts.
She looked odd without her vibrant style.

Before Sarah
could bolt for freedom
,
Jillian’s
arms
were
wrapped around
her
. “Welcome to your baby shower!”
Her m
other announced and then drew back. “Or should it be better said as
Babies
?”
Jillian
’s excited eyes were all e
ncompassing and then she giggled a little more
. “Come in, Sarah. You look like a deer caught in the headlights of a semi.”

Before she
could say anything there
came
the screeching sound of metal. Sarah
looked down to
her
left hand and realized t
hat the doorknob
remained
in her
grasp and it deformed from
her immense
strength.
With
her
hand free
,
it now hovered above the metal.
She used her skills
over metal to return it to its rightful state. “Sorry about that.”
She
said
,
looking at Jenny and she only smiled.

“Sarah, Come On!” Kara said in an annoyed way. She passed
Jillian and took Sarah’s
hand.
Kara
led
her
inside that
decorated and
torturous room and
Jillian
shut the door
to seal
the
escape
route
.
Sarah’s
over
zealous sister-in-law dragged
her
to th
e couch. She
felt
almost in a daze as she
sat down and looked at the presents that consumed
the entirety of her
vision.

She
spoke in an exasperated voice. “What…what is all this
, Kara
?”

“
It’s y
our worst nightmare. It’s a
party
!” She exclaimed while grinning.

Rhoda gained
their
undivided attention once her mouth opened. “Actually this party was my idea. You see this is a shower for you and my future great grandbabies
. Since you
’
r
e
going to be a first time mother, it was only right that us
other
mothers do something special.” Sarah
looked around and everyone nodd
ed
in agreement. “Plus Connor said it would be alright if we threw one for you.”
Sarah’s
eyes narrowed on the eccentric older looking woman.

Oh just wait until you get home.
Connor is going to get it.

Under Rhoda’s and
Jillian
’s
unstoppable
insisting
,
Sarah
grabbed the first present from the top. It was a box filled with baby powder and wipes. Soon after,
Sarah
really got in the mood of opening the presents.
It was actually becoming fun.

After finishing opening the last package an hour later and hearing all the
awe’s
,
oh’s
and
oh how cute
,
did Sarah
end up with everything
a new
and expecting
mother
would need.
She
was given several packages of diapers, bottles, formula, breast pumps, stuffed toys, several sets of one-zees and many baby blankets. And there were some of the cutest booties around.
She wasn’t
sure if they would be useful, but there were some baby
monitors
.

Then Rhoda announced “Jenny explained how much you eat and I made something special
for everyone. Sweetie
, please follow me.” Sarah
didn’t need to be told twice
whe
re food i
s involved. She
walked
around the sofa and recliner a
s
Rhoda led the way into the
bright
kitchen.

Sarah’s
stoma
ch started growling the moment she
looked in the room.
F
ood
sat
everywhere. The dining table was layered in
an array of
finger sandwiches and diced fruit. On the counters were heaps of muffins, cooked turkeys and phe
asants, and most of all; cake. Sarah’s
mouth began salivating and preparing
itself
for an onslaught of flavors.

Before she
had taken another step Rhoda stated “I haven’t cooked this much food since retiring. It sounds strange, but I thoroughly enjoyed cooking
so much
again. Go ahead and dig in.”

“Be car
e
ful with your words, Rhoda.”
Jillian
warned, but
Sarah
was already on the
prowl
.

She
grabbed two t
ie
rs of the
sandwiches
and the top
tier of a
chocolate
cake.
Sarah
then used
her
power over pressure to lift t
he turkey and brought it with her
into the living room. Rhoda and Jenny balked, they thought it was moving
and floating
on its own. “Don’t worry. I’m using my ability over Pressure to lift the tray.”

Sarah
made it into the living room and dug in.

Sara
h was sleeping so soundly that he
didn’t have the heart to wake her up and
tell her that it was time for him
to head out
earlier
.
Connor
slid out of bed and made
him
self a quick breakfast of granola bars and bananas.
His
hiking pack was prepared before
they even
went to sleep.
He
had an idea so
he
put in a few em
pty soda cans in the pack for the next lesson.
Connor
grabbed
Tool and slid it in
his
belt loop. Everything was set for
his weekend job. Before he
left there was one last th
ing that needed to be seen to. He
looked at the wall of the kitchen
again
.

A
thirty eight inch piece of
unused
wall separated the
corner of th
e front wall with
that of
the kitchen. He
spent the last two days figuring just how to make an addi
tion to their
home
and this area seemed the most likely location
.
He
made the figures and they would work, but it doesn’t hurt to look over a project once more before it is initiated.
The
cottage
,
as it is
,
is too small for
their
growing family
and future needs
. The twins would need their own room and they would have one very soon.

After locking the front door and trekking through t
he woods, Mark
already
wait
ed
by the
truck.
On the ground rested his pack and he wa
s leaning against the side of the
green truck.
He calmly star
ed up
at the fading stars in the sky.
Connor
intentionally stepped on a stick so
Mark wouldn’t be too surprised at his
arrival. He n
oticed and greeted Connor
with a
calm smile
afterwards
. “Morning
,
Buddy
. The weather looks to be perfect for the weekend. Even the forecast s
aid it would be
dry.”

“That’s a
fortunate
surprise.
”

Connor
unlocked the bed of the truck and
they
tossed
thei
r packs inside before
making their
way to the park. The truck started without any problems and it as silent as ever.

Once at the park
they
made it to the usual pavilion nineteen and waited for
the
customers to arrive. During
the
wait the park ranger showed up and Bill stopped by. Mark an
d Connor
had to tell Bill about
their
vacation and i
t felt too easy to lie to him. Connor
hate
d
lying, but
their
secrets need to be protected at
all costs. It’s not just for their
safety, but for the
safety of those who know what they
are. Knowledge is like a double edged sword. One way it could help you
understand your connection with the person
and the other
side
could
come back and kill you. Bill
then
left just as the first vehicle arrived.

Mark and
Connor
walked to the
parked
car. Mark spoke first “Janet, Ray! It’s been a very long time since we’ve seen you. How have things been?”

Ray stood at
six foot two
and Janet was two inches taller
than he
. Her blue eyes and his brown looked at each of
them
joyfully. Janet’s blond hair
had been cut
shorter
since their last encounter
and Ray’s
remained
cropped. Ray
finally walked up to Mark any
Connor
and
he
said happily “It is good to see you guys again. And the only thing that’s really changed is that Janet and I finally took the plunge.”