Tandem of Terror (29 page)

"Mother," Molly screamed, patting down the
spot where her mother stood with panic. "Mom!" She gazed up at the
ceiling then ran her hands along the walls searching for
answers.

She turned the light on and let her gaze roam
about the room desperately. "Mum?" the call was empty, weak,
final.

Molly waited, unable to contemplate, unsure
of what to do. She expected her mother to still be there as if she
hadn't really vanished, as if this was all somehow imagined, a
dream, a nightmare. Was she still in bed? Time to wake up now, time
to wake...but no the fact remained, Dana was gone and Molly stood in
the room alone.

Molly returned to her bedroom, still
reviewing the bizarre events over and over in her mind. Should she
tell her step dad? How could she, what would she say? It didn't
make sense. She couldn't say anything until she understood what was
going on.

Hours passed, the silence in the house was
deafening. Sleep was impossible but she figured as much. She rocked
herself back and forth on the bed, gazing out her open window,
staring into a star encrusted sky, wondering all the while if her
mother was soaring somewhere out there.

Another hour later a sound vibrated, setting
off Molly's senses and grabbing her full attention. She jumped from
the bed, slipped to her doorway and watched in awe as her mother
strolled casually down the hall and returned to her bedroom as if
nothing had happened.

Her impulse was to run to her mother's side,
hug and kiss her, beg to know what happened and where she was taken
but again she held back. She knew deep down somehow that it was
still not time.

For the first time in her life she feared her
mother, the woman she adored her entire life, the woman who knew
her every secret and thought and was struck with the realization
that she didn't know her at all. This frightened her. Things were
not as they seemed and she felt that her mother welcomed or even
controlled this strange event and that was even more
terrifying.

For days Molly kept her distance while
keeping a watchful eye over the household, especially her mother.
She could see her mother's fatigue growing, and the light that once
shined in her eyes was dimming but she dare not speak of what she
saw. No matter how worried she was. Her schoolwork began to suffer,
her friends were forgotten as Molly became consumed by what she'd
seen that night.

Each night she waited for it to happen again
but it did not. Molly sat up waiting while her mother slept
soundly. Perhaps it didn't happen at the same time every night,
maybe sometimes it even happed during the day? What a perfect time,
when both she and her step dad were out.

Molly was forced to be inventive. She had to
learn more, she just had to it was growing into an obsession now,
it invaded her every waking thought, slithered through her soul,
darkened her heart. She needed see it again.

On the next morning Molly headed off for
school as she always did but today, she never made it there.
Instead she asked Joyce to drop her off a block from her house so
she could then walk all the way back. Thank God for Joyce. Thank
God she understood. Despite the story Molly made up was ridiculous,
Joyce came through anyway and didn't question it.

She crossed the front yard and slipped around
back with great care keeping her presence unknown. Beneath the
kitchen window was good enough to remain just out of view, enough
to keep a watchful eye on everything but remain safe and secure,
out of sight or so she hoped.

Her mother roamed in and out, washing dishes,
cleaning rooms, sorting laundry, keeping herself busy and to
Molly's chagrin, completely normal.

Maybe this was all a mistake? Nothing strange
was going on and probably wouldn't. Had she imagined it all? Molly
doubted herself, her competence, her sanity, until---

Dana entered the kitchen, dishes in hand and
froze in her steps. Her eyes looked glazed but then illuminated
with understanding and acceptance. The faint glow could be seen at
the base of her neck again and Molly watched as a glass tumbled
from her mother's hands and shattered on the floor. It did nothing
to rouse her from the odd trance she was in.

Molly knew it was time. She watched her
mother head for the cellar door and vanish into the cellar. Seconds
later Molly was in the house creeping down the stairs and following
her mother who seemed under some arcane spell. The cellar was
filled with daylight this time and she could see her mother clearly
in the center of the room...waiting.

It was then that Molly saw it again, the
shaft of white light plunging from the ceiling without warning,
without a source or cause, swallowing Dana who welcomed it without
fear. It was a funnel that vacuumed her up and out of this place
and time.

Excited, frightened, Molly forgot herself,
her fear and her safety and ran to the light. "Mother!" she cried
but saw no sign of her. Her arm touched the light and as soon as
she did she fell backwards to the floor rejected.

A tingling sensation like pins and needles
washed over her arm. She rubbed it and stared at it entranced and
until the tingling was gone.

For hours she waited for Dana's return and at
last it happened almost as identical as her mystical departure.
Dana returned in a shaft of pure, white light but to Molly's shock
and concern it did not return her as it found her.

Dana heaved, her breath short and quick, hair
strewn and streaked with gray. But what upset Molly the most was
how she favored her right arm, bleeding and gouged with what looked
like scratches. Her mother was weak and drained. Whatever was
happening was sucking the life from her.

She wanted to confront her now, jump from her
hiding place and demand to know what was going on but she didn't.
She was too afraid, confused, and shaken. This was all so alien to
her, too unbelievable, something bigger then her was happening.
What that was she didn't know, she wasn't sure she wanted to
know.

Dana left the cellar and dragged herself back
up the stairs. Her body slouched, legs buckled. Molly followed
behind like her shadow, hiding in corners, behind furniture,
whatever it took to spy on her mother.

Dana ended her journey n the bathroom where
she cleaned her scratches. From under the cabinet she pulled out a
box of hair color to wash out her gray hair. Molly wondered how
long it had been going on.

Before her mother finished drying her hair,
Molly left the house, preparing to hide out until school ended and
return home to keep the illusion alive. Sooner or later she would
have to confront her, she knew this, no matter how strange it
seemed or how scared she was. It would only get worse. She wondered
how long it would be before it ended up killing her mother.

It boiled inside her like acid, like poison,
building to an explosive level but Molly bided her time, waiting to
see when it would happen again. This time she didn't have to wait
long. A few days later, in the dead of night, she caught a
silhouette in the hallway and knew the time had come.

Throwing her covers aside she raced down the
hall and this time refused to let it just happen again. It was
consuming her mother and could not be allowed to continue. This
time she was going to stop it. End it for good. She could no longer
watch her mother die slowly.

She dashed downstairs with a purpose and
followed directly behind Dana casting all caution aside. The time
for cloak and dagger was over.

The light snapped on.

"Molly!" Dana cried, the shock and concern
evident on her face.

"Mother what is going on and tell me the
truth. I've seen the light...I've seen it! What is it? What is it
doing to you?"

"Molly not now," she begged. "I can't explain
this but I have to go."

"No!" Molly demanded. "This is hurting you,
look at yourself, you're falling apart, stop this now!"

"Molly, you don't understand, I can't stop
this I must go now. It's my duty. The world depends on it."

The shaft of light came down into the room
and descended over Dana. Molly seized the opportunity. "I will not
let it take you!" she cried running into the shaft's path and
joining her mother's side.

"Molly no!" Dana cried as the light engulfed
them both.

Seconds later the two found themselves in the
clearing of a great forest. The night sky flashed with lightning as
the air crackled around them. Wind gushed in balmy waves, swaying
the dark, towering trees.

A disoriented Molly tried to clear her
senses, rubbing her eyes and gawking in awe. "Mother, where are
we?"

"I don't know," Dana answered, searching the
clearing for something.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Molly was
outraged, frightened.

"I know I'm where I'm supposed to be. It's
always different... my God Moll here it comes! Just stay back!"

Molly watched mute as the very fabric of
reality rippled. A doorway tore itself into the world. Molly
watched as a large hole formed in the clearing, glowing with eerie
spectral light and echoing with bestial howls and calls.

Dana's right hand glowed vibrantly as did the
spot on the back of her neck. She approached the doorway like hole
as something attempted to come through it.

A deafening roar bellowed through the air,
Molly covered her ears with trembling hands. Lightning flashed
sporadically and the shadow of a great beast loomed in the doorway.
Dana lunged for it head on---

Black, barbed tentacles sprang from the
doorway, flailing and writhing like serpents, swinging with rage
and fury. They lashed at Dana without mercy. Giant claws joined the
tentacles, reaching and snapping, blades as sharp as swords.
Hideous roars reverberated.

Dana pressed her attack by grabbing the
tentacles and shocking them with searing energy, burning the black
scaly flesh. The smell of rubber filled the air. The power,
emanated from her hand, glowed with the white-hot energy.

Roars turned to wails but still more
tentacles and claws reached for Dana who struck and stung them like
a nest of hornets while forcing them back into the doorway despite
how hard they struggled to leave it.

It appeared there was more than one beast but
Molly's mother seemed to be in control until a wayward tentacle
caught her off guard and slashed across her face, a barb ripping it
open, her blood splattering.

"Mother!" Molly screamed in horrific
desperation and jumped to her feet.

Another tentacle wrapped around Dana's feet
and sent her crashing to the ground and dragging her into the
doorway.

"No!" Molly screamed and leapt to her
mother's aid. She took hold of her mother's hands and dragged her
they opposite way. Dana struggled and fought, just barely able to
regain her footing. The tentacle still held onto one leg. Molly
grabbed a tree branch and attacked the beast, slashing at it until
green puss spewed forth.

With Molly distracting them Dana gathered her
strength and with all her mysterious power hurled it into the
beasts, finally forcing them back into the doorway. She used her
glowing hands to manually close the door to the other side, a
series of gestures and maneuvers shutting it down for the time
being.

Dana collapsed into her daughter' arms.

"Mum?" Molly whispered and the shaft of light
came and took them, once again delivering them back to the
cellar.

"Mother," Molly shook her, keeping her alert.
"Mother!" she cried hysterically now.

"Moll it's okay, I'm alright."

"No you're not. Look at yourself. You almost
died out there. This is killing you, you must stop."

"You're right Molly, you're right. I didn't
think it was time, but it is. I no longer have the strength or
youth to continue. Molly, I didn't think you were ready but you
have to be. You must continue on with my duty, it must be passed on
to you now."

"What mom, what does? This is some sort of
nightmare...why you? Why us? What are we?"

"We are appointed guardians from a long
ancestry. Since recorded history our kind have been the guardians
of this world. It's our duty. We are only half human you and I. Our
people were sent here thousands of years ago to protect it from the
evil that tries to consume this and all other worlds.

We are the guardians of Earth. From time to
time, the dark devourers attempt to gain access to this dimension.
It is up to us to prevent it. The power will alert you, call you
and transport you from the deserts of Egypt to the ice mountains of
Antarctica, wherever the evil is."

"Me?" Molly wanted to scream. She didn't want
it to be true. It couldn't be true. "I have to fight this? But I
don't have your power, mother, I couldn't possibly---"

"Yes Molly, you can, and you will. Because
now, I must pass it to you, my job is over it is time for my
daughter to take my place. Come Moll, hold me close."

The two embraced, a twinkling in their eyes,
an energy coursing through them, a pure light illuminating them and
as the light died in Dana it burned stronger in Molly and upon
Molly's neck burned the mark of the guardians, an ancient symbol
scorching her skin for as long as lived.

"Be charged, be strong, be brave and you will
defeat the evil in all its attempts for as long as the power needs
you. Your step dad never knew and he must never know, no one can or
you jeopardize the power's strength. You will marry, but you will
only have one child, a daughter and she will take your place when
the time is right. It is your destiny."

With tears in her eyes, Molly hugged her
mother tight and helped her to her feet. At last Molly's eyes were
opened and she understood all that her mother was, the important
role she played in this world, for she now played it too.