Redemption (3 page)

Isaac glanced at
her when she broke off.  “What?”

“Your arm!”  She
grabbed his upper arm and spun him around.  “Both of them, look.”  His arms
were glowing, giving off an intense bluish light at the crook of each elbow. 
“What the heck is that?” 

She grasped his
arm as she spoke and began pushing up the sleeve of his long-sleeved t-shirt to
get a better look.  His skin was very fair, that kind of complexion where you
can easily see the blue veins tracing beneath the skin.

He pulled away
and crossed his arms, hiding the glow.  “I don’t know… but you have it too.” 
He gestured at her, and for one wild moment, she thought he was pointing at her
crotch.

Looking down,
she saw a glow coming from her lower abdomen.  Her eyes met his and something
fluttered in her chest.  “I have a really bad feeling about this.”

He nodded,
looking pale.  Rebecca took his arm and tugged it away from his chest, so that
she could get a better look.  He resisted at first, but grudgingly yielded and
extended the glowing appendage.  She pushed up his sleeve.  The glow was coming
from dozens of little dots that looked like puncture marks.  “What the heck? 
What happened to your arm?”

He jerked away
and crossed his arms again.  The surf was getting bigger and they had to move
up the shore to avoid getting soaked by the giant breakers. 

“It’s nothing. 
Old scars.”  He glanced at her face and away, then shrugged.  “I was really
sick.  I had to have a lot of injections- I.V.s, transfusions… it’s not a big
deal.”

She looked at
him, feeling like an idiot for being so pushy.  “I’m sorry.  That must have
been horrible.”  Her stomach was beginning to burn.

He shrugged
again, not looking at her.  “I’m fine.  But what about you- what’s wrong with
your stomach?”

Rebecca seized
his story and ran with it.  “I had surgery,” she said lightly.  “It was a
congenital thing.  I’m fine now.”

The glowing was
getting worse- and so was the pain.  She glanced at Isaac and saw a look of
utter horror on his face, completely disproportionate to what she had just said. 
He grabbed her arm and broke into a run.  She stumbled along behind him,
tripping over her own feet.  She managed a glance over her shoulder and her
eyes landed on the source of his terror. 

Huge
grayish-green tentacles stretched out across the beach where they had just
passed, and a boiling mass of curling, humped forms was erupting from the
water.  Rebecca watched in horror as dozens of long, shining serpentine necks
arose from the water, each topped in a dragon-like head filled with gleaming,
gnashing teeth. 

She ran as fast
as she could, clutching Isaac’s big hand in a death grip.  The fog was getting
thicker, and they didn’t see the cliff face until they slammed into it.  The
force knocked them both down and they sat staring in horror at the sheer
vertical rock that was blocking their escape.  It was as if it had just
suddenly materialized there. 

Rebecca’s gaze
darted to the forest, only to watch in mute horror as the mist drifted away to
reveal trees banked by more cliff.  “Shit,” she whispered, glancing behind
her.  They had run right into a dead-end.  “Shit, shit, shit…”

Isaac looked
behind them and scrambled to his feet.  Rebecca followed suit, a sharp pain
searing through her lower stomach as she moved.  Isaac hissed in pain beside
her, and she knew his scars were hurting too.  The monster had followed them
down the shoreline, and its massive heads were now closing in, blocking their
escape. 

Isaac tried to
dash past one of the long tentacles and was knocked aside.  “Oh God!”  He lay
on the sand, writhing and moaning. 

Rebecca dashed
to him and hauled him up, urging him back.  She couldn’t see any visible
injury, but he seemed to be in a lot of pain.  “The trees,” she shouted
urgently.

 They could get
some shelter in the trees at the base of the cliff.  Maybe the thing would
leave if it couldn’t seem them.  One of the massive heads darted toward
Rebecca.  She hit the ground and rolled, trying to get out of the way, but it
nicked her leg.  She scrabbled in the sand, blinded and moaning. 

Pain lanced
though her body, ice cold and burning.  The physical pain was nothing though, compared
to the mental anguish she felt when the thing touched her.  She was overwhelmed
by an intense sadness, and wracking grief so strong that it immobilized her. 
This was why Isaac had fallen.

Big hands
wrapped around her upper arms and dragged her roughly to her feet.  Isaac’s
face swam into her vision, clouded by tears of pain.  “Come on, get up!”

She forced her
way past the anguish and managed to make her legs work again.  They ran toward
the trees, but a huge head darted down from above, hanging from the scaly neck
thick as her waist, blocking their way.  It lashed out, the knife-like teeth
closing on Isaac’s leg.  He screamed and fell, his hands scrabbling for
purchase in the sand as the thing began to drag him back toward the rest of the
heads.

Rebecca dashed
forward without thinking.  She cast about for a weapon- a rock, a stick,
anything.  There was nothing.  Giving up on her search, she rushed toward the
head.  A tentacle lashed about, and it slapped into her side, drowning her in
pain.  She fought through it and kept moving toward Isaac. 

When she reached
the head, Isaac was sobbing, his leg still clenched firmly between its teeth. 
She kicked at it, clawed at its face, desperate.  Her clawing fingers sank into
its vulnerable eye with the give of soft gelatin, and hot ooze dribbled down
her arm.  The thing screamed, rearing back and dropping Isaac in the process. 
The head whipped around wildly in pain.  Rebecca hurried to get Isaac moving
while that head was distracted, but its cry had brought the others darting
forward.

She drew Isaac’s
arm over her shoulder and heaved.  They made their way across the beach,
dodging tentacles and howling in pain whenever one connected.  Finally, they
reached their goal- a big boulder buried in the sand.  Panting and sobbing,
they collapsed behind it, knowing that they only had moments before the
creature moved its body close enough to reach around the rock.  Tentacles
slapped at the stone and writhed wildly overhead. 

Rebecca glanced
at Isaac in desperation.  His arms were still glowing.  And so was her
stomach.  Sobbing, she clutched at his arm, her words tumbling out.  “I lied. 
It’s not a surgery scar,” she gasped, struggling against the lingering
emotional pain from her most recent lashing.  “It’s…it’s a c-section scar. 
I…the baby died…I had a miscarriage!”

Tears were
flowing freely down her face as she clutched at Isaac and poured out her
secret.  “I lied,” she gasped.  Her hands covered the glowing areas on his arms
while the scar on her abdomen burned as if the wound had just re-opened. 

“What are those
marks?” she sobbed, flinching as a massive head struck at the rock, and chipped
a huge chunk away.  “What are those marks on your arms?”

Isaac was
shaking now, wracked with pain.  “Needles,” he gasped, so softly she had to
strain to hear him.  Then louder.  “Needles.  They’re needle marks.  I’m…an
addict!”

The creature
behind them gave a high-pitched scream from every one of its massive heads at
once.  The ear-splitting sound was followed by dozens of thuds, as if someone
was lobbing boulders onto the beach.  Rebecca dragged herself to the corner of
the stone and peered around it.  The monster had stopped moving.  All of the
heads had fallen lifeless to the ground.

“We did it,” she
whispered, her voice harsh from shouting and crying.  The pain in her abdomen
was fading, and glancing down she could see that the glow was gone. 

Isaac had his
head in his hands.  He shuddered and the glow faded from him as well.  She
pushed herself to her feet and stood looking out at the monster.  Her feet
moved without her even thinking about what she was doing.  Isaac scrambled up
and followed her as she walked out onto the beach.

“It was a
challenge.”  Rebecca stood staring down at a massive head.  The serpentine neck
was thicker than she was tall.  “I think…I think it died because we told the
truth.”  She reached out and touched the scaly head and the monster shimmered
and disappeared, leaving behind nothing but frothy sea foam and angry waves.

She met Isaac’s
piercing blue eyes.  He didn’t say anything.  They turned as one and headed
toward the forest, where an ornate green door had appeared.  It looked as if it
had been carved into the cliff face, overarched with twisting branches that
looked as if they had been woven by some powerful hand.  Rebecca was hardly
surprised to see the black cat patiently waiting for her, its mismatched eyes
filled with mystery.  She grasped the long wrought iron handle and opened the
door.  Without a word, the three of them stepped into the forest beyond.

~~~~~

On the other
side of the door, they found tall trees- pines, maples, oak, and poplar.  Dappled
sunlight fell through the leaves and cast dancing shadows on the rough path
that stretched before them.  Rebecca hesitated and glanced at Isaac.  His face
was reserved, and she thought maybe he was regretting having revealed his
weakness to her. 

“Well,” she said
into the strained quiet that had sprung up between them.  “It looks like we go
this way.”

He looked at her
for a moment without speaking, then glanced at the path ahead.  “I suppose. 
But doesn’t it seem too convenient?”

Rebecca stared
ahead at the inviting path in the woods.  “Way too convenient.” 

But the cat had
trotted off up the path and out of sight.  For some reason, she thought she
should follow.  She glanced back at the green door behind them, now hanging
right in the middle of the wooded path.  It was already beginning to fade. 

“I don’t really trust
this, but I’m sure as hell not going back out there.”

Isaac sighed. 
“No.  You’re right.  Let’s go this way.”  His eyes met hers.  “If you still
want me to go with you?”

Rebecca stared
right back at him.  “You mean because you’re a druggie?”

His eyebrows
rose at her bluntness, then he nodded and looked away.  It was an ugly thing to
know about someone.  Like walking in on them when they were using the bathroom
or something.  She couldn’t imagine what he must be feeling right now.  Shame,
maybe?  He looked embarrassed, but there was a shade of defensiveness there
too.

She gave a wry
laugh.  “I’m in no position to judge, believe you me.”  She turned away and
started down the path, giving him some space in the hopes that his
defensiveness might wear off.  

The soft sound
of footsteps followed her, but she didn’t look back.  “So, what do you suppose
this key will look like anyway?  I mean- will it be an actual key, do you
think?”

“I don’t know,”
his deep voice was already losing its edge.  She thought he was the sort who
forgave easily.  “I suppose it could be.  We keep seeing these doors after all. 
But I wouldn’t be surprised if it was something symbolic instead.”

Rebecca nodded,
looking around at the bright forest.  “Right.”

 She was amazed
at the rich detail of her dream.  Little vividly colored birds hopped from
branch to branch as they passed, and once or twice a squirrel darted across
their path- one of them a bright, startling green color.  The breeze on her
skin carried the cool, delicious dampness of the forest canopy, very unlike the
cold chill on the beach.  Even the colors of the landscape were vibrant and
alive- lush greens and browns and golds, a world on the brink of fall.  She
never would have thought herself capable of such vivid imagination.  But then,
she was sharing this dream with an artist.  He eyes lingered on a tree with
flaming red leaves that were just a shade too bright to be found in nature.

They walked on
and on along the wooded path, which began to take more solid shape as they went. 
Rebecca glanced at Isaac, feeling the need to fill the silence.  “Where are you
from?” she asked hesitantly. 

He glanced at
her and gave her that soft, boyish smile.  “I was born outside Detroit.”

Rebecca smiled. 
“I grew up in Birmingham- not too far away.  But now I live closer to Sterling
Heights.”

Isaac’s eyes widened
and he let out a low whistle.  “Ooh, Birmingham.  I didn’t know I was in the
company of a princess.”  He winked at her to let her know he was only teasing.

She shrugged. 
“My parents were pretty well off.  Me, not so much.”  She gestured at him,
wanting to deflect the conversation from herself.  “You said you were born near
Detroit.  What about now?  Where do you live?”

He shrugged and
didn’t meet her eyes.  “I don’t know.”  He stuffed his hands in his pockets and
kept walking, eyes on the path.  “I’ve moved around a lot.  But…I can’t seem to
remember anymore.”

~~~~~

The sensation of
being watched prickled along Rebecca’s neck.  She spun and her eyes landed on
the hooded figure emerging from the trees.  “Very well done back there,” the
hooded thing rasped. 

“What do you
want?” she demanded, feeling jumpy and suddenly on edge.  She wished Isaac were
there.