Commentary: I love this story, I tell myself I hate it, but I really don't. I just can't finish it because I've filled it with details that I dislike. I think
deep in what is found here a very simple and interesting character study could be found. If only I could write it. But because of the direction I
chose to take the story, toward the supernatural, I've found that I can no longer work with the universe. I've added several elements; the inn,
the cross shaped tree, Porter's character that just don't work with what I now think is possible with the characters. Eventually I hope to come
back to this story and scrap all the elements that I've come to dislike. But for now, here is the original draft complete with errors, of a story I
was calling Rains Will Fall...
deep in what is found here a very simple and interesting character study could be found. If only I could write it. But because of the direction I
chose to take the story, toward the supernatural, I've found that I can no longer work with the universe. I've added several elements; the inn,
the cross shaped tree, Porter's character that just don't work with what I now think is possible with the characters. Eventually I hope to come
back to this story and scrap all the elements that I've come to dislike. But for now, here is the original draft complete with errors, of a story I
was calling Rains Will Fall...
Thick sheets of rain began falling early in the day and continued to do so throughout the afternoon. The sun had been hidden for quite some time giving
the sky an appearance of smoke, all except the horizon which retained an almost steel blue color despite the incessant meddling of the clouds and water.
All these characteristics of an ever expansive skyline did not go unnoticed from the vantage point of the black luxury sedan that throughout all the changes
continued to wind along on an almost quant country back road. From the ever comforting position behind the steering wheel Jacob Clarks, a strong
featured man, nearly the age of 30, with eyes as grey as the clouds, had been commenting on the ever changing skyline for the past several hours.
“Look at it now, isn’t it amazing?” He had asked with such awe and reverence in his voice that his wife, Lily, had almost forgotten the sixteen month old
child, CJ, held in her arms to take a good look at the one that had been driving for the past few hours.
Despite the fact that this phrase was uttered by him every time any minute change could be seen in the color of the clouds, or even in their consistency,
Lily smiled. He hadn't taken his eyes of the road so this of course went unnoticed but to accompany it she gave the same reply that now seemed to
match the question, “Yeah, honey. It really is.” Her tone was undoubtedly that of someone overtaken with love and tenderness but with something else on
her mind. For even with the thought of how cute what her husband had continued to dwell on was, the rain filled her with unease. Her thoughts of the rain
were cut short by the small, clear voice of their barely 7 year old daughter Aya.
“Mommy, what does amazing mean?” she asked, her eyes bright and clear, the same greyish blue as her fathers.
This question too had been stated various times throughout their trip, in fact every time her father mentioned his, Aya would ask.
Lily replied with the same thing she always did, “I’ve already told you sweetie, its something that you can’t really understand.” Lily expected Aya to do
what she had done the last time this response had been given, she would look down at her feet and ponder it without interruption until Jacob asked his
question again. But instead of continuing along with the routine that she had been expected to follow yet again, she continued to look at her mother with
an outstandingly complex look of confusion on her face. This look would have seemed quite at home on the face of a student who had just finished
Euclidean geometry trying to master astrophysics, but not on the face of her 5 year old daughter. But the strangeness of it, made an even bigger smile
come across Lily’s face than the one that Jacob had provided. But not even this smile could compare with the one that was about run rampant across
her face.
Aya continued to look at her mother, with the strange confused look for what seemed like an eternity and then finally opened her mouth.
“Why can’t I understand it?” spilled out.
Lily started laughing almost instantly, but the look on her daughter’s face, one of complete anguish and sadness ended her jovial outburst and cut short
the ever expanding smile.
“No, no, no... I wasn’t laughing at you Aya. The definition of amazing is ‘something you can’t really understand’ its something that surprises you.”
The look of sadness escaped her face and she responded with a simple, “oh, okay.” She then went back to looking out the rain streaked window.
Lily too went back to thinking about the rain, which led to thoughts of how they had come to be driving on this road deep in the back country of public
owned land. The choice to leave the interstate was an abrupt one, it had bothered her at the time and it continued to do so now. But because of the
intensity of Jacob’s insistence she allowed it to happen, and from time to time it popped into her head that as the rain continued this road was becoming
more and more dangerous. The mud under the thin layer of gravel was undoubtedly becoming more and more water logged, and would eventually reach
its limit of saturation.
But she hadn’t seen the fire in his eyes that the idea had given him for months, not since being laid off. She just hadn’t the heart to say it wasn’t a good
idea, or that it could get them lost, because not only had he seemed so desperate in his wanting, but he asked her beforehand. He had been so sure of
himself that it was a good idea that he hadn’t decided just to do it without telling her. He came right out and voiced his opinion and it gave her the
impression that it was the right thing to do, even though in the back of her head she knew it wasn’t. This type of confidence in himself was something that
he hadn’t shown in what seemed like forever, it hadn’t been shown for months even prior to his firing. The fact of the matter was that even if she had
known it wasn’t a good idea, and even if she had mentioned it, he would have just resented the fact that she didn’t trust his judgement. They had been
married for 6 years and she had known that this was one idea that she couldn’t turn down, regardless of what she thought of it.
The sedan continued down the long spiraling gravel road, which at the rate the rain was falling would be solid mud before nightfall. Lily gazed out the
windows watching for any sign that they had once again reached the realm of people. After a long while she had finally started to bare witness to the fact
that they had reached the outlying transition period where the surroundings were no longer only those things that had come from nature. No more were
the only sights to be seen those in the same vein of the ever expansive carpet of trees, and the chasms of rock which undoubtedly were the product of a
once powerful river, now withered into nothing but a small lazy brook. But things such as dirt driveways, leading up to what she assumed would be
summer cabins, were beginning to materialize in the ever extending mass of shadow caused by the trees. Whether or not these domiciles in control of
man were occupied or not didn’t matter. The fact is that they had finally started to reach the outskirts of something that could be called civilization.
Lily’s interest in watching for a change in the relatively small amount of driveways faded along with the last signs of light in the day. The amount of man’s
activity in the surrounding woods had been increasing all throughout the day, with signs advocating things such as no fires, and how the fire risk was
high. The first time that they had passed one of these Lily giggled, Jacob had questioned her and he hadn’t laughed. Yet it had made him smile, just how
his continued commenting on the sky had her. But that was quite some time ago, before CJ had needed his changing and feeding for the evening, he now
resided in his car-seat, fast asleep.
Aya had long since stopped pondering about what amazing was. She now babbled to her father about one thing or another. Lily zeroed in her attention on
what Aya was saying just as she said her name.
“Mommy!” Aya said excitedly.
“Yeah,” Lily replied slowly, in a singsong voice.
“Do you know what rain is?”
“Well, its wat-“
”I do too!” Aya cut her off quickly.
“You do?” Lily said, “well what is it?”
“The wind blows lots of dirt up into the clouds, and then the sun makes even more water come to them too.” She paused for a moment to take a breath
and think then she finally concluded with, “Then the dirt mixes with the water and then it falls to the ground... right?”
Lily looked at Jacob as if to signify that he should field this one. He thought over her explanation and of course her question, then he responded.
“Yeah, that sounds like its close to right sweetheart. Where did you hear that?”
“It was in a magazine at the doctor’s office when we went to get CJ looked at. But I have a question.”
Lily smiled, she knew that this would either be insanely cute or brilliant for a five year old. She hoped it would be brilliant.
“Well, when the water and dirt mix, why doesn’t it become mud?”
Jacob chuckled then replied with, “Well, its because the water just clings right onto a small particle of dirt, not even big enough to become mud.”
Aya looked out the passenger window, staring at each falling droplet that caught her eye, and uttered the phrase, “so the rain has little, tiny pieces of dirt
in it?”
“Yeah sweetie, it does.” Jacob replied.”
“Wow,” she said following with a big yawn. “I like the rain daddy.” She laid her head on the seat, with her eyes still watching the rain fall. Her fingers were
tracing the surface of a small silver chain which hung from her neck. They would lightly move down each link until it reached the point where they met, a
small obsidian trinket met at the end of the chain. The trinket was the Ourobourous, a small image of a snake eating its own tail that means eternity.
Jacob had given the necklace to Aya for her 7th birthday. Lily thought it a little disturbing to give a 7 year old an image of a snake eating itself but it seemed
important to him. She suggested that he give it to her when she was older but he was unbending with the details his plan. There were always several
things at which Jacob retreated into himself to deal with, and this was one of those cases. He was never completely open, always keeping some thing
very closely guarded, and in cases such as these it was blatantly obvious. But over the course of their short, at the time, marriage he seemed to realize
that Lily felt alone in situations such as these, so he gave an explanation.
His steel grey eyes locked onto hers and the look on his face was of complete and utter resiliency yet his eyes flashed quite a bit of sadness.
“If I give it to her when she is older, she won’t appreciate it. She may not understand it completely right now, but she’ll grow to. I want her to have it and if I
don’t give it to her right now, I just get the feeling that I won’t get a chance to,” He ended his explanation and continued to stare, waiting for her reply.
The look on his face at the time and the tone that his voice carried when he gave his explanation made it impossible for her to say no. His explanation
gave Lily many more questions, but it closed the matter at hand.
She gave a sad smile that indicated her understanding and nodded. They had gone to sleep that night quietly without speaking of the matter again. So
early that morning Jacob went into Aya’s room before she awoke, and just sat on the bed looking at her. He thought of his recent dreams, a dark rainy
night in which he and Lily were killed, his real reason that he needed to give Aya the necklace. He felt that if the events in his dream were going to happen
then the snake was a way to let her understand how he felt. And he hoped that she would grow to see why he had given her this at such an early age. If
indeed the events that he saw each night he slept did indeed happen, he would not have his daughter forget him.
Aya woke slowly, only several minutes after Jacob sat down, and looked at her him.
She sleepily smiled and with a tone that matched that of her smile said, “Its my birthday daddy.”
“I know Aya, and I’ve got a present for you.” He stated in a voice completely devoid of the sadness that he had shown Lily earlier. He removed a package
from behind his back. It was in an old oak case, with rusted iron hinges, small enough to barely hold 3 pencils.
Jacob opened it for her and Aya just stared. He pulled it slowly out of the box, the early morning light reflecting off the infinite black of the obsidian, and
unclasped it. He got off the bed, kneeled down and clasped it around her neck, leaning forward whispering into her ear.
“Aya, this necklace is a picture of a snake eating itself.” He said.
She cringed, moving her head slightly backward, her eyes started to water.
He continued, “Its called Ourobourous, can you say it?”
Her eyes had continued to slightly tear up but she tried, “Or-ub-ourus.”
“Try again sweetie,” he urged her, and then said it phonetically. “Its Our-rob-or-ross,”
“Our-rob-or-ross, Ourobourous?” She said, her eyes finally let loose its water at the idea of a snake eating itself.”
“Don’t cry honey, please.” He said while wiping the tears off her cheeks, then continued. “It isn’t scary, it means forever. This was my dad’s and he gave
it to me, just as his mother had him. I’ve always wanted to give it to you, ever since I first saw you. I knew it was yours. It was in your eyes. And I just want
you to know that I love you, and I will forever. For all eternity. That’s what this necklace says. Do you understand?”
Before she could respond he hugged her. She began to cry and completed the hug.
“I love you too, daddy.” She said between sobs. She didn’t understand why she was crying, but she knew the gift was important, and she loved it. He let
go of her then looked into her eyes. She was still crying, he wiped some of the tears away not acknowledging the fact that they continued to fall.
“Its just that the necklace is like you Aya. It’s an endless cycle.”
She stared at him, eyes full of tears, not understanding. He gazed back at her then continued, “You see, your name. Aya. Its spelled the same backwards
as it is forward. From whichever way you look at it is continuous. Same as the Ourobourous. Your mother suggested your name and I knew it was
perfect for you, for our little girl. Then when you were born and I saw you, I knew, I completely and totally knew, that you had to have the necklace,
because both of you are eternity. It was meant for you.
Jacob then stood up and walked toward the door. He looked over his shoulder, smiled, then said lovingly, “Stop crying hon, and you better get up, I think
your birthday breakfast is almost ready.”
She had gotten out of bed, and followed her father downstairs, running her fingers lightly over the necklace the whole way. Just as she was doing now, in
the car.
Lily watched as Aya slowly fell asleep. Lily knew that she had reached sleep when her hand finally fell from the obsidian Ourobourous. Lily felt that Aya
had the right idea so she turned to Jacob.
“Would you be able to stay awake if everyone else is asleep honey?” She asked.
“Sure, take a little nap, just put in my Weezer mix before you do. If I have something to sing along with I should be fine.” He replied.
She reached down at her feet and removed the Weezer mix from it, then placed it in the cd player.
“Thanks hon, I’ll wake you when we get to a hotel,” he said.
She moved her head over and kissed him on the ear, and he smiled. She then leaned her seat a little further back, not far enough to jar CJ but enough to
where she could sleep. As the opening riffs of Hash Pipe began to filter out of the speakers she drifted in and out of consciousness. She slowly stopped
listening to the music and concentrated on her breathing. The music faded to the background and eventually was completely shut out by the sound of her
own breathing. As her breathing slowed her body numbed and she finally fell asleep.
***
Surrounded by black Lily had no idea what was going on, the only thing that she could be sure of was that her children were in pain. Amidst the thundering
of the rain making contact with every surface of he overturned car, Aya’s cries could be heard distinctly alongside CJ’s. Lily could feel every anguish
filled scream.
“DADDY! MOMMY!” Aya screamed, voice full of pain.
CJ’s screams, despite the fact that they had no basis in language were no more comforting, if anything were worse than Aya’s. They echoed from the
interior and into Lily’s ears. She tried to go to, tried to at least look at her children, but movement and the opening of her eyes proved to be impossible.
“Lily! Lily are you okay?” Jacob questioned with ever increasing fear found in his voice. A shuffling could be heard which was undoubtedly Jacob trying to
move, he cringed letting barely any air escape.
“Daddy my head hurts, I can’t see!” Aya sobbed.
CJ’s cries continued.
“LILY! Answer me! I’m so sorry we got in an argument. I’m so sorry. I take it all back. If you just wake up I’ll know he exists. Just please. ” Jacob yelled,
he clenched his teeth and the sound of his breathing changed, with faster, sharper breaths.
“Dammit Jacob, help the kids.” Lily thought, but couldn’t manage to get the words out. As if he somehow heard her he acted.
His movement increased and several sharp pain filled gasps could be heard. Aya and CJ still cried. Lily kept trying to move, becoming more and more
frustrated with every attempt. Her body felt heavy and immobile along with her eyelids and voice. She knew this was a dream, it had to be. She wanted to
wake herself up, she had to. With every attempt at movement she felt nothing, not even the frustrating attempt of pushing on something that wouldn’t
move. That would have been comforting at this point. The rain started to fall harder.
Jacob began shouting over the ever increasing rainfall.
“Aya, honey. I’m going to need you to do something, can you hear me.” His voice sounded calmer, signifying that he had realized what he had to do.
“Daddy?” Aya wept.
CJ’s cries grew more frantic, and he had begun to cough.
“I need you to get CJ out of the car. Just unbuckle your seatbelt and then get his.”
“I can’t. My head, it hurts.” She responded.
“I know you can do it honey, I need you too. Please. Just unbuckle your seatbelt and grab onto the back of your seat, just lower yourself down to him.”
More movement could be heard as if Jacob were turning his body.
Aya started crying harder, not just sobs of pain but those of frustration, “I CAN’T! JUST HELP PLEASE DADDY, PLEASE. WHAT’S WRONG WITH
MOMMY?!”
CJ joined her screams and the noise was almost deafening.
Jacob was obviously distraught, but he hid it well. “I can’t help you yet honey, and mommy is sleeping, I’ll wake her up.” His voice was shaking at this
point and he choked what sounded like a sob down, he worked through it then continued. “But you have to get CJ out of the car. The back window is,” he
paused for a moment. “The back window is down, just lower yourself to him, unbuckle him then go out through the back. Please honey, I can’t do it and
neither can CJ.” He finished with a pain filled grunt.
He started moving and the sound of bending metal could be heard. He grunted full of pain, and must have realized that Aya hadn’t answered him and had
just continued to sob. He stopped moving and a voice that Lily had never heard before came from somewhere in the black.
“Please?” The tone was so sad, so pain filled and scared, that if Lily were able to she would have wept.
Aya responded as if she finally understood the severity of the situation, “I’ll try.” She said bluntly, yet still full of fear and sadness.
“Thank you honey, I know you can do it.”
“ No no, before you unbuckle the seatbelt grab the top of the
seat.”
A moment passed then the unbuckling of a seatbelt could be heard.
“Alright now just lower your down to his car seat. Just stand on the part next to the seat.”
The shuffling of feet and sobbing could be heard. CJ’s cries continued, but they weren’t as loud as before.
“Okay. What now?” Aya said painfully.
“Alright,” Jacob grimaced. “Now just step over him and lean against the door, don’t worry it won’t break the ground will hold it.”
Several moments passed then Jacob continued,
“Okay, good job, now just unbuckle him, when you do he’ll start to fall so you have to be ready to catch him. You know how to hold him so just get him
then crawl over the seat.”
Another unbuckling noise could be heard and CJ’s crying changed.
“Alright, good job honey, just go out the back and watch out for the glass. I’ll be out as soon as I can. All you have to do is wait on the side of the road.
She continued to move out the back until her footsteps could no longer be heard.
“Lily, Lily, wake up. Please, I have to get out and help Aya and CJ. Just wake up.”
He waited a few moments and then started to move. His painful grunting could be heard for a several seconds then an agonizing ripping could be heard.
Jacob screamed then fell, a loud crashing could be heard directly next to Lily along with a window breaking. Jacob screamed loudly.
A low grainy voice could be heard from outside the car along with CJ’s crying. Jacob’s heavy footsteps, along with his pain filled breathing, could be
heard scrambling over the broken windshield.
The grainy voice intensified. As did the wind and rain.
Through it all rang out Jacob’s voice, “GET AWAY FROM THEM PORTER! AYA, COME HERE, GET AWAY FROM HIM.”
Long agonizing seconds passed, with the only sounds being the wind and rain. Then without warning Jacob’s screams cut through, “YOU KILLED HER!
IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT, YOU SICK FUCK.”
“Killed?” thought Lily, “What’s he talking about?” Her thought was cut short by the strain of listening for more dialogue.
The noise from nature’s water show had completely blocked out the grainy quiet voice up until this point. Though while still nearly inaudible the tone could
be made out, it was angry and louder.
Jacob’s voice could be heard but it was now as low as the grainy one, and just as angry. The grainy one suddenly got louder.
“Aya, turn around sweetie.”
“Don’t you talk to her! DON’T YOU CALL HER SWEETIE!” Jacob screamed, “Turn around Aya, I don’t want you to see this.”
Nearly a minute passed with silence, except for the wind and rain, then a scream, Jacob’s scream, cut through the night. It was one of total agony, and
pain. Then as quickly as it had come. It ended. CJ’s and Aya’s cries were the only things that could be heard above the wind and rain.
***
Lily woke up with the scream echoing throughout her head. She looked about terrified and panting. The nightmare was quickly dissipating, leaving barely a
trace.
“Whoa, what’s wrong you okay? Nightmare?” Jacob asked.
“Yeah,” she said still panting, “it was so real, I couldn’t see anything but-” She finished suddenly, her body shuddering involuntary at the thought of the
dream. Her body felt cold, and she was shaking a little, despite the fact that had Jacob asked she probably couldn’t have given him anything more than
just a vague outline of what had happened in.
“Well, its over now, and I was just about to wake you up anyway. Coming off a hill just a minute ago I saw some lights down in the valley. We should be
there in a second.”
“Oh God, I can’t wait to get out of the car. And I’m sure the kids will be a lot more comfortable in a hotel.” She said, still shaking off the dream.
The car continued to head down into the valley, finally reaching pavement, along with the lights from several well spaced out homes. They continued
traveling until they passed a large wooden sign that said “Welcome to Lee’s Ridge!” Directly after passing that a small blue sign with a large white cross
declaring that it was only 1 mile from, the something’s “and” inn. A larger portion of the sign was rubbed off and it could have used a couple coats of new
paint.
“Well, is the ‘and Inn’ okay? I bet it’s the only one in town.” Jacob said.
“You really think?” Lily asked.
“Yeah, probably. We’re pretty far off the beaten path. Might as well stop and look at it.”
“Yeah I guess you’re right; plus its close and I’m sure CJ is going to wake up cranky any time now.”
They entered what was probably the center of town, it was complete with a very small post office, a diner, a mom and pop general store and one stoplight
that was continuously blinking red. Jacob slowed and yielded, continuing forward passing several houses that were located just past the center of town.
Two blocks down from the postoffice their headlights fell upon an intricately carved wooden cross and a small light shining upward into its “branches.” It
had been carved to look as if a tree had grown miraculously into the shape of the cross. It was quite striking, a Christian symbol mixed with pagan ideals.
Hanging from two hemp ropes upon the end of the cross bar that faced the road was a sign that bore the phrase “God’s Hand Inn.” With the rain and the
wind present the sign rocked back and forth as they slowed.
"Well, here we are." Jacob stated.
"Where exactly are we," replied Lily. She looked out the rain coated car window as Jacob pulled the car to the side of main street. Nothing could be seen
except a stone walkway leading past the cross into the darkness.
"Since we have no idea where a parking lot is I think we should just pull over here, follow the walkway up and then ask where we should park.” He looked
at her, waiting for a response.
Lily just glanced out into the rain up the path, then back into the car. Specifically into the backseat at CJ and Aya. After a moment she turned back toward
Jacob, his gaze exactly where it was before.
As her eyes met his, he opened his mouth and spoke:
“Since the kids are still asleep I could run up the path and talk to anyone who is there, that way we don’t have to bother them until we get an idea where
the parking lot is.”
She thought it over for a moment then responded:
“No, we’ll all go up there with you. I’m sure Aya will be glad to get out of the car, and CJ will go right back to sleep as soon as I get his hoodie on him.”
She reached into the bag at her feet and pulled out a small navy hoodie, and then sat it on her shoulder. Before getting out of the car she ejected the
Weezer mix out of the cd player and placed it back in the case, she hated leaving a cd in the car. Then she opened her door and stepped out into the rain,
the dome light flickered for the second that the door was open, then turned off. Lily stuck her hand out and pulled on the handle to the door leading to the
backseat, but it slipped out of her hand and fell to its former position loudly. She knocked on the window and Jacob quickly unlocked the door. She
reached out again and the door responded with its accepted response, the dome light turned on once again.
Lily slowly awoke CJ, he woke quietly and complied completely with the putting on of the jacket. She pulled the hood up around his ears then pulled the
drawstring, it tightened and only his nose and eyes could be seen.
She closed the door, the small sleeping child still in her arms.
The dome light turned off.
Lily opened the front door so that she could grab her bag.
The dome light turned on.
Jacob grabbed the bag before she could and removed a small green beanie from one of the side pockets. Aya awoke to the light show with a yawn.
“Where are we?” She asked.
Jacob handed the bag back to Lily then turned to his now awake daughter.
“We’re at the inn honey, we have to walk up so put on your beanie.” He held it out.
She looked at the beanie as if thinking about it, and then finally reached her hand out. She took it, then pulled it on over her long blonde hair. After doing
this she looked at Jacob then asked, “Daddy what’s an inn?”
He smiled unbuckled his seatbelt, removed the keys from the ignition then got out of the car. He opened the door adjacent to his daughter unbuckled her
seatbelt then answered her question.
“It’s a small hotel.”
“Oh okay.
He picked her up, swung her into his arms then walked toward the pavement where Lily was already waiting with CJ in her arms.
“Do you want to walk or do you want me to carry you?” Jacob asked her sweetly.
“Can I walk?” She responded.
He set her down to answer her question then he motioned that they all should follow him. He began to walk up the pathway stopping after a few steps to
examine the cross.
Its craftsmanship was remarkable. The base was constructed to look as if 5 thin trees had grown among each other spiraling round traveling both up to
the cross bars and descending into the earth where they were buried as mock roots. Ones that extending from all sides reaching out until they
descended past where they made a visible lump in the, if it were day, emerald green grass. At the center of the cross was an empty space from which
the crossbars reached out toward the road, and where Jacob imagined the inn would be found.
The crossbars were carved in the same fashion as the base, with a more spaced out pattern that gave the impression of sideways figure eights, or the
ourobourous, that extended outward in an impressive 8 foot, give or take a few, wingspan. At the tips of the crossbar the spiral unraveled, branching
outward to all sides giving what looked to be a perfect spherical pattern if one looked from straight on. The rope that was affixed on two of the
Ourobourous figure eights dropped to an oaken board that bore the words “God’s Hand Inn” in Old English lettering.
The most interesting part of the cross was what reached upward toward the sky from the breach in the center. It looked as if the upper portion of the
“trees” were going to follow the same design aesthetic as the base and the crossbars, but upon closer examination it could be seen that only 4 of the 5
parts of the spiral were converging to create the ourobourous. The final of the 5 was straight as an arrow with the others climbing at the same spacing all
around it. As they extended upward the design started to fall apart and the ourobourous figure eight pattern was broken with one of the branches thinning
then finally coming to a halt wrapped around the center one. The other 3 eventually followed its lead. The straight branch continued up into a thick point
stopping just above where all the others had thinned and wrapped around it. Not only was the craftsmanship remarkable but the wood seemed to glisten
due to the rain and the small light that sat shining upward from its base.
Jacob had stopped and stared for just a few moments but to him time had stopped. His eyes gazed up and down from base to peak examining every inch
over again. Lily shook him.
"Jacob, we're getting soaked. Lets go."
He turned and looked at for a second then shook his head.
"Jeez, you're right. I don't know what came over me. That carving is beautiful though, I wonder how long it took to make."
They began to walk again, moving into the darkness away from the cross. They continued to head into the darkness, finally finding themselves
surrounded by trees. The rain and darkness defeated any visibility but the rain had nearly stopped all around them so Jacob assumed that they must be
under trees. Ahead several small lights could be seen.
They walked in silence following the stone path toward the lights. After finally emerging from the trees, and being greeted by the torrential downfall of rain,
they came across a fork; one leading to a large brick building with a white marble cross over the door, and the other to a 2-story wooden building with a
satellite dish out on a peak of the roof. Neither had a sign. Candles were burning in the large brick one, as were several lights in the wooden 2-story.
“Which one do you think?” asked Jacob
“Probably the bigger one, it doesn’t look like the 2-story one could hold any guests, its probably just a house that the family who ones the inn lives in.” Lily
responded.
They walked forward, Jacob leading, and stopped in front of the large oak door of the brick building. Jacob knocked rather hard.
“Mommy, why are there candles in the windows?” asked Aya, whose had removed her beanie leaving her hair completely soaked.
“They probably don’t have any other people staying here and are trying to save money.” Lily responded.
“Yeah,” Jacob added, “maybe we should knock on the other one.
Lily turned around and began walking toward the wooden building, as did Jacob, but Aya stayed to examine the candles further.
“Come on Aya,” shouted Jacob over his shoulder.
She followed quickly as her parents walked in silence. The only sounds behind the wind and rain were their footsteps and the sounds of CJ fussing with
his hoodie. They were nearly at the door when it opened. CJ started to cry.
“Why hello, there, you folks looking for a place to stay.” called out a small man, in a very southern accent.
“Hello,” responded Jacob, “and yes, yes we are. Do you have any room?”
“Of course, course we do. Come on in.” The man insisted.
They walked in, CJ was still crying, and Aya looked around. The room was a rather nicely decorated living room, with a small fireplace that several
couches and chairs were arranged in a semi-circle around. A television set to the evening news out of New York or California, wherever the satellite had
been set to, was on a small table to the left of the fireplace. One of the chairs was pulled out of its spot in the semicircle and sat directly in front of the TV.
Several doors leading to other parts of the house were closed and the entrance to the kitchen could be seen on the opposite side of the room as the
fireplace.
The man, who was slightly balding and wearing a grimy old wife beater led them in front of an old desk, then turned around.
“So is it just the four of you?” He asked as his dark grey eyes moved attentively from Jacob to Lily and CJ, who was still crying, then finally landing on Aya.
His eyes flashed a color of unearthly yellow as they met Aya’s face.
“Yep just us,” stated Jacob.
The man rummaged around in the desk for a few seconds then pulled out a log, then for several more seconds then brought out a pen. He handed it to
Jacob. It only had 6 other names on it.
“Just print your name on the first line there.” he said, glancing at the sheet.
“Alright,” Jacob said as he took the log, he scribbled out Mr. Jacob Clarks, and family. Then looked up at the man as he handed it back.
His eyes were on Aya once again, but as if he felt the presence of Jacob’s eyes he looked back quickly, taking the log just as fast.
“Pretty eyes your daughter has. You ever hear the saying that a grey eyed person can see things meant only for Gods?”
“No, can’t say that I have,” responded Jacob with a laugh, one that brightened his own grey eyes.
The man’s eyes slowly moved back onto Aya, who having heard someone talking about her had turned, but he continued to talk to Jacob,
“Well its true,” he said raising a hand, tapping his temple, “and I should know.”
He turned his head back toward Jacob and finished with, “But I guess you should too,” signifying that he had noticed Jacob’s eye color as well.
Jacob was reminded of the cross sculpture by the man’s talk of gods and decided to ask about it.
“I was wondering, that carving out by the road, the one with your sign on it, who made that? Its beautiful.
The man looked as if he had no idea that there was a carving of a cross, that was in fact holding his sign. But then his eyes lit up.
“Oh, you mean the cross?” He said joyously.
“Yes, I was wondering how long it took to make and if it were possible the name of the artist who constructed it. I’d be very interested in seeing their other
work.” Jacob said with envy.
“Well,” he said looking down at the log book, “Mr. Clarks. His eyes looked up from the log and into Jacob’s eyes, “To see some more of the artist’s work
all you would have to do is look around. For its completely natural and a piece of our Lord’s work. That is unless you’re talking about the sign, that
happens to be a creation of my own.”
Jacob began to smile, then cocked his head partially sideways.
“You’re telling me that the amazing piece of artwork out by the road happens to be one of complete, natural luck.”
“No, I don’t believe I said that at all,” he said with a slight hint of anger in his voice, “I’m am quite sure that I told you with complete honesty the creator of
both the cross and the sign.”
Jacob’s smile faded, then with a strange force in his voice he responded to the man, whose eyes were still locked with his.
“If for some reason you’d rather not tell me who made it, I would prefer you just said that.”
The man, whose eyes flashed a sick color of yellow for a only moment, barely held his anger and then stated, “That clump of trees has been there since I
was a boy, it is completely natural with no human hands shaping it except for mine, which only tied those ropes upon it after I bought the land and had the
inn built. I assure you.”
Jacob shook his head and rather than continue this just remained quiet.
“Well, alright, Mr. Clarks,” his eyes had found there way back on Aya, “and family. Would you like one room or two?”
Jacob looked at Lily, who was rocking CJ in her arms, and then back at the man.
“Probably just one, and if we could get another blanket and pillow.”
“That’d be fine, and by the way,” he paused gazing into Lily’s eyes, then slowly moving to Aya, then Jacob, “My name is Porter, Porter Cain.”
The name suddenly filled Lily with dread, but for the life of her she couldn’t explain why. She had heard the name Porter somewhere but couldn’t recall.
“Maybe, I’m just tired,” she said.
Jacob started to laugh, then turned.
“You alright hon, who you talking to?”
She blushed realizing that she had been indeed talking to herself, and then without speaking this time she reassured herself that she was probably very
tired.
Porter moved forward and said “You all must be tired, you’ll probably be wanting to get to bed.” His eyes had remained staring at Aya as he said this.
Lily hadn’t heard what he’d said, she was too busy with her own thoughts. Jacob had, but he didn’t like how Porter continued to stare at Aya.
He stepped between the two and said, “Yeah, if we could get our key.”
“Oh we don’t have locks, I’ll just show you to your room.”
Jacob didn’t like the idea of no locks, but he moved toward the front door, expecting to be led outside to what he thought was the inn. Porter
stared as Jacob did this, then asked “Where you going?”
“Isn’t that the inn across the lawn there, where the other part of the path leads?”
Porter began to laugh, “No, no, that’s the church. I’m a minister you see. The rooms are upstairs.” Then quickly his tone changed, along with his face,
into almost anger “You didn’t go in there did you?”
Taken back by this change Jacob stammered, “N-No.” He quickly regained his composure, and added “Had we gone in I would’ve known it wasn’t an
inn.”
The anger in Porter’s face lessened and he spoke definitely spoke with less of it in his voice, “Oh yeah, hadn’t thought of that. You see no one’s allowed
in there except on Sunday’s. I don’t like the idea of people wandering in and out of the house of God.”
Jacob hadn’t liked the idea of staying here without any locks when he thought that they would be in a completely different building than this strange man,
but now he liked the idea even less. He was beginning to get an awful feeling from the man. Something about the way he looked, and continued to stare at
Aya. Lily obviously hadn’t noticed the way he stared because she was looking over her shoulder at the TV, waiting to be led to their room.
Jacob stayed by the door and then remembered that he had to move the car off the main road still, this would be his chance to talk to Lily. He may have
had a weird feeling about Porter, but he still didn’t want to offend this man in his home.
Porter had started to walk toward the back stairs, which were located behind a curtain, that none of them had noticed on first coming in, when Jacob
spoke up.
“I need to move our car, its out there right on the side of the road, do you have a parking lot or know of any place that we could park it for the night?” He
asked slyly.
“It should be fine there, that’s where most people park anyway,” Porter responded, leveling his eyes at Jacob as if he knew that he wanted to get out of
this place.
“Well we should at least lock the doors, come on Lily.”
She turned and could tell that Jacob was obviously distressed about something so she bent down and handed CJ to Aya.
“Here hold him honey, Daddy and I will be right back.”
“Okay, mommy,” she started to rock CJ like her parents had always shown her.
This was the last thing that Jacob had wanted, but as he was going to say something about it Lily walked forward, pulled open the door and dragged him
outside. He shut the door behind them. They walked to where the path forked then she faced him in the dark.
“What’s wrong?” she said with more than just a hint of concern in her voice.
“I don’t like this, have you seen the way he has been looking at Aya. I think it’d be better if we just found the interstate.” he said as the rain dripped down
his face, vaguely imitating a tear.
“I really don’t think its that big of a deal, its really rare that someone has grey eyes, and to have 3 in the same room, that has got to be a surprise to this
guy. You heard the thing he said about people with grey eyes being able to see things that only a God can. He is probably just excited about the prospect
of 3 people being in tune with God, he is a minister after all.” she replied while looking over her shoulder at the church.
“Please, Lily. I don’t get a good feeling by being here. I don’t want any of us staying here, especially Aya.” He stared into her eyes, not knowing if she
could see him in the reflected light of candles and electricity.
She gazed back into the eyes of the man that she had loved for the better part of 7 years and thought. She didn’t know why but something inside made
her dislike Porter. It may have been due to what Jacob was saying, but beforehand, when she heard his name it bothered her. But not so much that it
made her want to drive through the night in the rain. But once again she could see in his eyes that he wanted nothing more than for her to comply. She
reluctantly nodded.
“Okay, lets go get the kids. Just tell him that we’ve changed our minds and ask him where the interstate is.”
“Alright,” he smiled, “and thanks, I owe you one.”
“You owe me two,” she said while returning the smile.
He leaned forward and gave her a hug. She clinched him tight then kissed him on the neck. They both released then walked back to the inn.
The door opened and Jacob and Lily walked in, to see Porter kneeling in front of Aya, her back was to them. Jacob’s eyes flared, he walked forward.
“GET YOUR HA-” he shouted, but his voice trailed off as he realized that Porter was just examining Aya’s necklace. Porter let the necklace fall back to its
position on Aya’s chest, and stared up at him.
“I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t shout, I do have a daughter sleeping right next to this room.” He stated angrily.
“I was showing him Ourob-boris, daddy.” Aya said proudly.
“I see that honey, will you take CJ over to mommy please.” He looked at his daughter, wanting to get her as far away from this man as possible.
As Aya handed CJ to Lily one of the doors leading to the other parts of the house opened and a small girl, who looked the same age as Aya, exited. She
walked up to Porter and looked up at him with sleep filled eyes, he bent down and picked her up.
“This is my daughter, Alexis.”
Her eyes and hair were the same colors as Aya’s.
“Da, what was that noise?” she sleepily asked.
“Nothing honey, it was just Mr. Clarks here. He got a little excited. But he’s calmed down now, do you want to help me show them up to their room?”
He pushed the curtain back that reveled the stairway and began to walk up it. Alexis closed her eyes and leaned against her fathers shoulder. Then
answered his question.
“Yes.” She said sleepily, yawning afterwards.
“Actually, Porter,” called Jacob after him, “we’ve decided that we’re just going to head on to the interstate, if you could tell us how to get there.”
Porter stopped on the narrow stairs and turned around. He looked at Jacob for a moment then proceeded to walk back down. His eyes flared up angrily
for a moment but he quelled the emotion hoping that they hadn’t noticed it.
He walked straight past Jacob, not answering him, then set Alexis down in the chair that had been pulled out of the semicircle. After setting her down he
turned and faced Jacob.
“Well, I wouldn’t really recommend going out in the rain, further down the road the bridge could be washed out and you wouldn’t even know until you went
in the drink. It has been raining all day after all.”
“No, we’ve decided that we’d like to get back on our way, we’ve spent all day driving on these back roads and we have a lot of time to make up.”
“I really wouldn’t recommend leaving,” he said in a strange tone, one that Jacob couldn’t really pin down.
“Thank you for the advice Porter, but I think we need to be on our way, now if you could please just tell us how to get back on the interstate from here.”
“Well, okay. Can’t keep you here against your will, even if I know its for your own good,” he turned and looked at Aya. “Just keep on heading down this
road, in 30 or 40 miles, if you make it that far, you’ll see a sign. Take a left, you’ll be on access road 128, then keep traveling until you see a sign for the
on ramp. But I’m advising you, the bridge is probably washed out, so you really shouldn’t do this.”
Jacob, already making up his mind about what to do, responded, “Once again, thanks for the advice, but we really need to be going.”
Jacob turned toward Lily and she opened the door. Alexis sat up at the noise and looked out. Lily, CJ, and Aya were waiting for Jacob. They all looked at
her. She looked at Lily and said plainly, “Goodbye.”
“Well, goodbye Alexis.” Responded Lily sweetly.
Jacob walked past the group out into the rain, Aya looked at Alexis.
“Bye,” she said in a sleepy tone.
“See you soon.” called Alexis into the dark as Lily closed the door behind Aya.
Jacob stopped and told Lily to take CJ to the car, she nodded and continued to walk. He waited for Aya to get to him, then he bent down and scooped her
up before she realized what was going on.
“Tired honey?” He asked, then kissed her on the forehead.
“Yeah,” she said while yawning.
She leaned her head against his shoulder and was asleep before he had taken anymore steps. He made it to the car just after Lily had put CJ in his car
seat. She looked as tired as Aya. He opened the door and put Aya in her seatbelt. As soon as he closed the door her head fell to the side and lay against
the window. He took a step forward then opened the driver’s side door. He climbed in, pulled on his seatbelt and started the car. Before putting it in gear
he looked at Lily. She lay against the door, seatbelt bunched up in her hair but not across her chest, and was nearly asleep.
He spoke to her, “Thank you honey, I just didn’t get a good feeling from him. I don’t know what it was, but the way he looked at Aya, and how he wouldn’t
tell me who made that carving. It was just strange.”
She lifted her head then opened her eyes, “It’s okay Jacob, I got the same feeling when I heard his name, but how do you know he wasn’t telling the
truth?”
He stared at her with a look of absurdity on his face, “What? That’s insane. How could something like that be natural?”
She looked at him, their views on religion and the supernatural had always differed. But not to the point of arguing, they had just never dwelled on it. It
seemed this time that there contradictory views would come to light though.
“He didn’t say that it was natural. He said that it was a miracle.” She stated bluntly.
“You believe that?” he said in disbelief.
“I actually do, what reason did he have to lie?” she asked.
He just sat in silence, she knew what he was thinking, about how stupid she could be sometimes. She hated being judged, even if that wasn’t actually
what he was thinking its what his silence was making her feel. She turned away from him and faced the window, staring out into the ever falling rain. Her
hands mindlessly removed the tangles from her hair, setting the seatbelt aside and all she could think about was how close minded he could be.
All he could think about was how naive she could be. She of all people, she was an intelligent rational person. How could she possible believe that god
had just decided to bend and warp a clump of trees into one of the most beautiful sculptures that he had ever seen. He still couldn’t believe that she
thought god existed, let alone did sculptures for fun on the weekends. He would have never told her this, because he understood that a persons belief
was normally the center of their emotional core, when he had believed in god he never refrained from laughing at it. At the time he knew it was true so
why couldn’t you laugh at it? People confused him.
After sitting in silence for quite some time he put the car in gear and drove off. He stared into the narrow beam of light that the headlights provided and
whenever he began to daze all he had to do was think of Porter’s warning. That’s all he could really think about. The thought that he wouldn’t see the
bridge that lay hidden somewhere in the murky black scared him, because if they ended up careening into it, then he would be completely at fault. He
continued checking his speed to make sure that if a gaping hole where a bridge should be suddenly came into view he would be able to stop, even with
the rain.
So when they finally came across it he was filled with relief. It came into view as slowly as he was traveling, and as soon as they got on it he sped up.
They crossed the bridge quickly and he continued to speed up, Jacob worried about falling asleep so bent over to grab his cd case. He reached over to
Lily’s side trying not to wake her up. He continued to glance up every few seconds, keeping his eyes both on the road and looking for the cd’s. This was
becoming tiresome. He turned his head quickly toward the floor and pulled out the cd’s. Lily’s habit of taking the cd out of the player was beginning to piss
him off. He finally found the case, after having to reach all the way across Lily. He grabbed it then pulled it up. He looked out the windshield and saw a
dark figure in the middle of his headlights. The figure was Porter. Jacob slammed on the brakes and the tires began to skid.
Porter stared intently from the middle of the road eyes glazed and speaking quietly to himself. Repeating the same unintelligible phrase over and over
again.
Both tires on the right side suddenly locked and the car rolled suddenly. The force drove Jacob forward along with everyone in the car, the sounds from
inside were of screaming, metal grinding upon pavement, and of course the sounds of the rain falling. The car rolled over completely and then came to a
halt on the passenger side panels. The rain continued to fall splattering atop the side panel that had ended up facing the sky. The drops fell exploding
atop the oil blackened pavement, along with the small pieces of safety glass that had begun to let go of its designed purpose. The reflection of the car’s
only working headlight gave a hauntingly beautiful pattern of rainbows that, were it not for the circumstances that created it, would be beautiful. The
windshield lay shattered across both lanes, reflecting the light of the ever blinking turn signal into the turbulent continuously changing surface of large
puddles that had formed atop the blacktop. From within the car cries emitting from CJ and Aya could be heard.
“DADDY! MOMMY!” Aya screamed, voice full of pain.
Jacob tried to sit up, still in a daze, blood dripping from his forehead. He sat, held by the seatbelt and his crushed arm, horizontal to the ground. His left
arm was pinned between the ceiling and the frame of the window. His skin was covered in blood and the upper portion of his shirt was torn to shreds. He
bent forward to the extent that his arm, and gravity, would allow and turned to see Lily.
She lay crumpled 5 feet from the position that Jacob was in, unlike himself she hadn’t put on her seatbelt and so she wasn’t neatly suspended. The
passenger side window had exploded inward when the car rolled and she lay covered in the safety glass with one arm pinned underneath the frame of
the car. Her light blonde hair was stained red and her back was contorted in a rather unnatural position. Jacob examined the scene with his face sat to
terror. He could hardly manage to get enough breath to speak.
“Lily! Lily are you okay?” he questioned with ever increasing fear found in his voice. He tried to free his arm from the metal that had bent inward, trapping
him. As he moved his arm the neurons which had barely been registering now fired with such ferocious intensity that he couldn’t even muster a scream,
instead he cringed letting barely any air escape.
“Daddy my head hurts, I can’t see!” Aya sobbed. She and CJ both had been in seatbelts and were now suspended horizontal to the ground as well.
Jacob ignored both their cries, he barely heard them to be honest, and continued to stare at Lily.
He shouted above the rain and the cries of his children, “LILY! Answer me! I’m so sorry we got in an argument. I’m so sorry. I take it all back. If you just
wake up I’ll know he exists. Just please. ” His voice was getting more high pitched with every word. He clenched his teeth and his breathing changed, it
was getting faster with every breath he took. He waited, eventually holding his breath. He stared at Lily’s body, examining it for any movement, his eyes
started to water and he realized her body was barely recognizable with its red tint and how it lay.
The rain started to fall harder and with its sudden louder thundering on the shell of the car Jacob began to shout over the ever increasing rainfall.
“Aya, honey. I’m going to need you to do something, can you hear me.” His voice was calmer, he realized what he had to do.
“Daddy?” Aya wept.
CJ’s cries grew more frantic, and he had begun to cough.
“I need you to get CJ out of the car. Just unbuckle your seatbelt and then get his.”
“I can’t. My head, it hurts.” She responded.
“I know you can do it honey, I need you too. Please. Just unbuckle your seatbelt and grab onto the back of your seat, just lower yourself down to him.”
He turned his body, metal bending as he did, he clenched his teeth once more, then looked at his daughter. Her hair was matted with red and black, and
one of her eyes looked swollen shut. The other that stared downward at her hands was full of tears that hadn’t yet followed the ones that were streaming
down her cheeks. She was looking for the seatbelt release and trying to position herself so that she could hold onto the back of the seat.
Suddenly she dropped her hands into her lap and looked at her father, the tears that hadn’t fallen yet began to pour outward and she started to sob, and
with a mix of pain and frustration she shouted, “I CAN’T! JUST HELP PLEASE DADDY, PLEASE. WHAT’S WRONG WITH MOMMY?!”
CJ joined her screams and the noise was almost deafening. Jacob cringed at the sounds and he was obviously distraught but he hid it well when he
addressed Aya.
“I can’t help you yet honey, and mommy is sleeping, I’ll wake her up.” His voice started to shake and he choked down a sob then continued. “But you
have to get CJ out of the car. The back window is,” he turned his gaze from her into the darkness behind her seat and realized that it had shattered, “The
back window is down, just lower yourself to CJ, unbuckle him then go out through the back. Please honey, I can’t do it and neither can he.” He grimaced
and unlocked their gaze.
Turning his attention to the metal which had incased his arm he began to push against it, trying to free his arm. The metal was immobile. He lifted his
legs, putting all his weight on the crushed arm which made tears stream from his eyes. He wanted to scream but kept it inside because he knew that it
wouldn’t help Aya any to hear him in direst. He wedged his uninjured hand under the metal then pushed up against the steering wheel with his legs. It
started to bend crushing his arm further down near the elbow but releasing it further up. The elbow apparently was an epicenter of the injury though
because the pain increased tenfold and he let slip a grunt of pain.
The excess amount of neurons firing made his mind clear and he realized that Aya hadn’t answered him. He could hear her sobbing from the back.
He turned his attention to the back and with his mind at complete clarity asked her in the saddest voice that Aya had ever heard in her short life, “Please?”
The severity of the situation finally hit her and she looked at her father. His eyes shook and his face was pale. She stopped sobbing and knew that she
had to do what he asked because for some reason he couldn’t help them.
Aya made her voice as strong as she could then said bluntly “I’ll try.”
“Thank you honey, I know you can do it.” He said with relief.
He looked on as she started to unbuckle her seat, he butted in quickly.
“ No no, before you unbuckle the seatbelt grab the top of the
seat.”
She turned her body then put her arm around the top of her
headrest. She dug her feet into the gap where the seatbelts were then she unbuckled hers.
“Alright now just lower yourself down to his car seat.” She hung on to the top of her headrest then lowered her body downward so that it was horizontal to
the ground.
“Just stand on the side of his seat.”
Her feet were several inches from the edge of the carseat, she extended her toes and it came to rest on the side. Jacob hoped that the seatbelts held or
else he would regret ever telling his daughter to attempt this. She started to sob, then let go of the headrest. The carseat slid a little bit but the seatbelts
held. Aya was now directly perpendicular to CJ and then looked at him. He turned his head toward her and his cries continued but they weren’t as loud as
before. She stopped then looked at her father.
“Okay. Now what?” she said painfully.
“Alright,” Jacob grimaced. “Now just step over him and lean against the door, don’t worry it won’t break the ground will hold it.”
She did exactly what he said and ended up standing on an unbroken window next to CJ.
“Okay, good job, now just unbuckle him, when you do he’ll start to fall so you have to be ready to catch him. You know how to hold him so just get him
then crawl over the seat.”
She unbuckled the carseat then caught CJ as he started to fall, despite the warning it caught her off guard and she fell against the door slightly. She
began to crawl on the window while heading toward the back.
Jacob watched, pleased that his daughter had done it, realized that he needed to get himself out now, and then said “Alright, good job honey, just go out
the back and watch out for the glass. I’ll be out as soon as I can. All you have to do is wait on the side of the road.”
She crawled over the far back windows then stood to avoid the glass which had spilled out over the chunks. She took several steps forward then reached
the broken out back window. She stooped downward holding CJ close to her blood covered chest, and stepped out into the rain.
Jacob turned back toward Lily as Aya’s footsteps were washed away by the rain and wind. He stared at her for a moment longer then spoke,
“Lily, Lily, wake up. Please, I have to get out and help Aya and CJ. Just wake up.”
He waited a few moments for a response but he knew one wasn’t coming. So he started to move. He pushed his legs upward again against the dash
and tried to extend his arm but it wasn’t moving. He needed to get of the car to Aya so he removed his seatbelt. It was still partially wrapped around his
arm but all of his weight was divided against his legs and his mangled arm. The shirt started to tear along with part of his arm. He grunted for a moment
then as the ripping of his shirt and fleshed increased he started to scream. The metal bent and his arm was released. He continued to scream as he fell.
He landed atop Lily as his legs swung forward striking the windshield, it cracked then broke. He screamed as the safety glass rained down upon him and
Lily’s body.
He lay, his body crumpled atop Lily’s, and he just wanted to stay here. To die, as he was sure he could if he wanted, with his wife. But his thoughts turned
to Aya as he tried to stand. His left arm was immobile, or at least the pain caused it to be, and it buckled several times as he tried to stand. Rather than
have it happen again he rolled over and got into a position so that he could crawl out the broken windshield.
He moved slowly over it at first but as he got out of the car he noticed a grainy voice, one that belonged to Porter. He stood up as straight as he could
then stumbled forward. His right arm cradled the immobile one and he stomped forward away from the car. CJ was crying and Aya just stared at him.
Jacob stomped forward and as he was about to yell, Porter cut him off.
“I hate to say it but I told you Jacob, the roads are dangerous when it rains,” his voice had almost a mock tone.
The wind and rain increased but Jacob’s voice cut through it all.
“GET AWAY FROM THEM PORTER! AYA, COME HERE, GET AWAY FROM HIM.” Jacob screamed into the black. His eyes were full of rage and his
working arm was badly shaking. Porter stared into Aya’s face and she stared back, her eyes wide with terror. She hadn’t even responded when Jacob
had spoke to her. Long agonizing seconds passed, the only sounds being the wind and rain. Aya still stood staring transfixed into Porter’s glazed over
eyes. Jacob shook with anger and finally exploded.
“YOU KILLED HER! IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT, YOU SICK FUCK.”
Porter turned his head away from Aya and gazed at Jacob. He stared for a moment then spoke louder, more angrily.
“That type of language isn’t necessary, there are children present, and I most certainly didn’t kill anyone. You were warned not to leave.”
Jacob’s voice got lower and more quiet.
“What do you mean I was warned, you said the bridge might be out, not that you’d show up and roll our car! What do you want with Aya?” He growled.
“Nothing personal, but the girl is necessary.”
Jacob’s voice could be heard but it was now as low as Porter’s, and just as angry, “I’m not going to let you take her.”
Jacob stumbled forward, Porter turned his head toward Aya, who still looked terrified at the appearance of Porter, who was supposed to be 30 miles
behind them.
“Aya, turn around sweetie.” He said still in the low, angry voice. He turned his head back just as Jacob closed in on him, screaming.
“Don’t you talk to her! DON’T YOU CALL HER SWEETIE!” Jacob screamed. He stumbled forward raising his unhindered fist and shouted to Aya, “Turn
around Aya, I don’t want you to see this.”
Aya broke eye contact with Porter and turned quickly; clutching CJ, who was still crying, to her chest.
Jacob fell to the ground before Porter, his adrenaline faltering. His anger drove him up again, despite the fact that he was dizzy and was losing all feeling
in his extremities. Porter walked backwards slowly staying just out of Jacob’s reach. His eyes flashed yellow, and he began to chant in the same fashion
that he had been as the car rolled. He stopped chanting and a grin came across his face. Jacob stopped suddenly and turned even more pale, than he
had been before.
Aya looked over her shoulder as her father stood motionless before the man she had talked to at the inn, and watched on as the man’s eyes glowed
yellow. Her father continued to stumble forward, fist raised in anger and his eyes glowed a menacing red.
Porter’s eyes flashed and fire burst out of Jacob’s eyes.
Jacob’s vision flashed red and orange for a moment then turned black. Pain signals shot directly back into his brain, causing him to wail.
Aya screamed as her father did.
Blindness struck Jacob as a meteor does any random heavenly body, hard and with causing great damage. He howled, clawing at his eyes, as the
fingers on each hand sunk in. When his eye lids had burned off during the initial combustion, it seems that he had forgotten that his arm was immobile
and quickly allowed it to try and put out the flame that escaped his head. As his fingers clawed in the burning spread up his arms and burst out his back, it
moved down his chest and around his torso burning all that it met. He fell to the ground as it reached his crotch and contorted. It moved down his legs
and into his chest burning away at his arteries and lungs, his screaming continued even after his heart had burned away. His chest caved completely in,
ash burst outward and looked almost like long grey ghosts. His legs were nothing but nubs and they continued to kick as his skull melted inward onto his
brain. Not until the fire severed his vocal cords did his screaming stop.
Aya however continued to howl. CJ did as well. She raised her head up toward the clouds and screamed into the falling water until her strength gave out.
Her legs buckled and she fell forward onto her knees then toppled over sideways onto CJ’s lower body. He screamed, then passed out.
Porter watched as the fire burned itself out, leaving only the arms and ribs intact, and then congratulated himself on how well the incantation worked. He
had only practiced it on forest animals and inanimate objects before tonight. But with the fire having been dissipated completely he turned his attention to
the screaming children.
He stepped over the charred husk that had been Jacob Clarks only minutes before and watched as Aya fell atop CJ. They both stopped screaming. rolled
Aya over carefully. He picked CJ up as if he were a full garbage bag and held him by an arm. He looked over CJ’s body and stopped at his face to
examine the eyes, they were clear water blue. He set CJ aside and turned his attention to Aya. He looked down at her swollen eye and blood stained hair.
His eyes once again flashing the unearthly yellow and he smiled. He raised his hands vertically to the ground, had anyone been watching he would have
taken on the appearance of the cross, and raised his face to the sky.
“I have found the second half of your sacrifice oh Creator God, here me, HEAR ME!” He shouted into the deafening wind an rain in a booming voice that
did not suit his frail body.
He lowered his head and arms, then scooped Aya up and began to walk into the woods. Then before he said his de-materialization incantation he
remembered CJ. He looked back into the oil stained road and realized that he had found a bargaining chip. Porter strolled forward and picked him up in
the same fashion as he did before and then walked away from the dimming headlights of the overturned car. He stepped into the woods and began to
chant in a low voice a bit of indescribable language then in a flash of yellow he was gone.
Aya awoke to sunlight and screams. Not screams coming from CJ but rather herself and sunlight coming from of course the sun. The scream was being
emitted from her mouth, and the sunlight streamed in from an open window. She took this in quickly then sat up and threw off several layer of sheet that
had been tucked in around her. Her screams had stopped just for a moment, when she took a second to wonder why she had been screaming. But of
course they continued when she remembered the events of the previous night and how her father had screamed when he burst into flames.
She jumped off the bed, and she finally stopped screaming, suddenly realizing that the room she had found herself in was not one of which she was
familiar. She set to the task of examining it then finding her parents. She had come to the conclusion that it had all been a dream. The room was lightly
furnished with hardwood floors and a small bathroom set just near the bed. She went to the window and looked out, the rain had stopped and everything
was wet and sparkling in the sun. The emerald green glass had a gleam that made her smile and she couldn’t wait to tell her daddy how scary the
nightmare that she had was. But then she began to wonder where her parents were, and CJ too. Whenever she had awoken to her own screams often
times her parents were in the room before she could sit all the way up. But it had been several minutes since then as far as she could tell.
She stepped off the bed and walked toward the door, a mirror set atop an antique dresser caught her eye and she examined her face. The image that
greeted her wasn’t her normal one. This one was all puffy and had a large bandage above her left eye, and rather than having any of her clothes, she was
wearing a heavy, almost garish, pink cotton nightgown, one that was definitely too long. She started to get scared. If she was hurt then that means that
her dream could have been real.
She ran toward the door and grabbed onto the handle pulling inward as hard as she could. It didn’t budge.
“DADDY!” She screamed as loud as she could, as she started to bang on the door.
“MOMMY! Please let me out,” she screamed.
No one came to her cries and she started to sob. She fell to the ground, nightgown crumpling beneath her. Tears ran from both eyes onto fell to her
clothes, leaving stained trails of moisture on the hideous pink fabric. She started crying louder and didn’t notice the door knob turning.
The door opened and in stepped Porter. Aya started screaming even louder still, she had recognized him instantly. She tried to open the window so that
she could climb out, but it wouldn't move. He grabbed the back of the nightgown that she had on. He grabbed her by the shoulders then turned her around.
“I WANT MY MOMMY AND DADDY,” she screamed hysterically. Tears continued to fall, now reaching his hands.
He held tightly He reached his hand back then slapped her across the face.
“Quit that, that is no way to act.” He said bluntly.
She was quite dazed from the shock of the impact, she had never been hit before. He lowered her to the ground, shut the window and locked it, with a
key he had. He turned and looked at her.
“I’ll have Alexis bring breakfast up to you in a moment, if you cry like that again I’ll hit you harder.”
He walked past the dazed Aya and left the room. She heard it lock behind him.
She sat up and started to cry.
“Why did he hit me?” she thought, sadly, and all of a sudden she knew that all of her family was gone. She started sobbing uncontrollably. Her eyes
leaked, as did her nose and she once again didn’t notice the door opening. Alexis, who looked exactly like she did, entered with a tray and stood in the
doorway holding it while Aya cried.
“I have food for you,” she said quietly, and rather uninterested, while Aya wept.
“I DON’T WANT IT!” She screamed then buried her head under the pillows on the bed. Aya continued to cry as she heard the door shut beyond the veil of
pillows. She sat sobbing continuing to weep, feeling the hot streams fall and get enveloped by the cloth. She rubbed her hands against her cheeks hoping
to get rid of the moisture when she felt the area on her face that Porter had struck. She hate him. But at the same time was completely overwhelmed with
fear of him. She just remembered his threat, and how she had just sent Alexis away. Her eyes began to water again at the thought that he would be
coming back soon but quickly stopped with the realization that her crying would probably anger him even more. She moved to the corner of the bed and
straitened the ugly pink nightgown. Her breathing was fast and wet. She continued to try and swallow it out of fear. She managed to stop her crying and
control her breathing, her fear wouldn’t show, no matter how badly it burned inside of her. Aya decided that she would hide it or die trying. For the next
several hours she sat on the edge of the bed waiting for Porter.
the sky an appearance of smoke, all except the horizon which retained an almost steel blue color despite the incessant meddling of the clouds and water.
All these characteristics of an ever expansive skyline did not go unnoticed from the vantage point of the black luxury sedan that throughout all the changes
continued to wind along on an almost quant country back road. From the ever comforting position behind the steering wheel Jacob Clarks, a strong
featured man, nearly the age of 30, with eyes as grey as the clouds, had been commenting on the ever changing skyline for the past several hours.
“Look at it now, isn’t it amazing?” He had asked with such awe and reverence in his voice that his wife, Lily, had almost forgotten the sixteen month old
child, CJ, held in her arms to take a good look at the one that had been driving for the past few hours.
Despite the fact that this phrase was uttered by him every time any minute change could be seen in the color of the clouds, or even in their consistency,
Lily smiled. He hadn't taken his eyes of the road so this of course went unnoticed but to accompany it she gave the same reply that now seemed to
match the question, “Yeah, honey. It really is.” Her tone was undoubtedly that of someone overtaken with love and tenderness but with something else on
her mind. For even with the thought of how cute what her husband had continued to dwell on was, the rain filled her with unease. Her thoughts of the rain
were cut short by the small, clear voice of their barely 7 year old daughter Aya.
“Mommy, what does amazing mean?” she asked, her eyes bright and clear, the same greyish blue as her fathers.
This question too had been stated various times throughout their trip, in fact every time her father mentioned his, Aya would ask.
Lily replied with the same thing she always did, “I’ve already told you sweetie, its something that you can’t really understand.” Lily expected Aya to do
what she had done the last time this response had been given, she would look down at her feet and ponder it without interruption until Jacob asked his
question again. But instead of continuing along with the routine that she had been expected to follow yet again, she continued to look at her mother with
an outstandingly complex look of confusion on her face. This look would have seemed quite at home on the face of a student who had just finished
Euclidean geometry trying to master astrophysics, but not on the face of her 5 year old daughter. But the strangeness of it, made an even bigger smile
come across Lily’s face than the one that Jacob had provided. But not even this smile could compare with the one that was about run rampant across
her face.
Aya continued to look at her mother, with the strange confused look for what seemed like an eternity and then finally opened her mouth.
“Why can’t I understand it?” spilled out.
Lily started laughing almost instantly, but the look on her daughter’s face, one of complete anguish and sadness ended her jovial outburst and cut short
the ever expanding smile.
“No, no, no... I wasn’t laughing at you Aya. The definition of amazing is ‘something you can’t really understand’ its something that surprises you.”
The look of sadness escaped her face and she responded with a simple, “oh, okay.” She then went back to looking out the rain streaked window.
Lily too went back to thinking about the rain, which led to thoughts of how they had come to be driving on this road deep in the back country of public
owned land. The choice to leave the interstate was an abrupt one, it had bothered her at the time and it continued to do so now. But because of the
intensity of Jacob’s insistence she allowed it to happen, and from time to time it popped into her head that as the rain continued this road was becoming
more and more dangerous. The mud under the thin layer of gravel was undoubtedly becoming more and more water logged, and would eventually reach
its limit of saturation.
But she hadn’t seen the fire in his eyes that the idea had given him for months, not since being laid off. She just hadn’t the heart to say it wasn’t a good
idea, or that it could get them lost, because not only had he seemed so desperate in his wanting, but he asked her beforehand. He had been so sure of
himself that it was a good idea that he hadn’t decided just to do it without telling her. He came right out and voiced his opinion and it gave her the
impression that it was the right thing to do, even though in the back of her head she knew it wasn’t. This type of confidence in himself was something that
he hadn’t shown in what seemed like forever, it hadn’t been shown for months even prior to his firing. The fact of the matter was that even if she had
known it wasn’t a good idea, and even if she had mentioned it, he would have just resented the fact that she didn’t trust his judgement. They had been
married for 6 years and she had known that this was one idea that she couldn’t turn down, regardless of what she thought of it.
The sedan continued down the long spiraling gravel road, which at the rate the rain was falling would be solid mud before nightfall. Lily gazed out the
windows watching for any sign that they had once again reached the realm of people. After a long while she had finally started to bare witness to the fact
that they had reached the outlying transition period where the surroundings were no longer only those things that had come from nature. No more were
the only sights to be seen those in the same vein of the ever expansive carpet of trees, and the chasms of rock which undoubtedly were the product of a
once powerful river, now withered into nothing but a small lazy brook. But things such as dirt driveways, leading up to what she assumed would be
summer cabins, were beginning to materialize in the ever extending mass of shadow caused by the trees. Whether or not these domiciles in control of
man were occupied or not didn’t matter. The fact is that they had finally started to reach the outskirts of something that could be called civilization.
Lily’s interest in watching for a change in the relatively small amount of driveways faded along with the last signs of light in the day. The amount of man’s
activity in the surrounding woods had been increasing all throughout the day, with signs advocating things such as no fires, and how the fire risk was
high. The first time that they had passed one of these Lily giggled, Jacob had questioned her and he hadn’t laughed. Yet it had made him smile, just how
his continued commenting on the sky had her. But that was quite some time ago, before CJ had needed his changing and feeding for the evening, he now
resided in his car-seat, fast asleep.
Aya had long since stopped pondering about what amazing was. She now babbled to her father about one thing or another. Lily zeroed in her attention on
what Aya was saying just as she said her name.
“Mommy!” Aya said excitedly.
“Yeah,” Lily replied slowly, in a singsong voice.
“Do you know what rain is?”
“Well, its wat-“
”I do too!” Aya cut her off quickly.
“You do?” Lily said, “well what is it?”
“The wind blows lots of dirt up into the clouds, and then the sun makes even more water come to them too.” She paused for a moment to take a breath
and think then she finally concluded with, “Then the dirt mixes with the water and then it falls to the ground... right?”
Lily looked at Jacob as if to signify that he should field this one. He thought over her explanation and of course her question, then he responded.
“Yeah, that sounds like its close to right sweetheart. Where did you hear that?”
“It was in a magazine at the doctor’s office when we went to get CJ looked at. But I have a question.”
Lily smiled, she knew that this would either be insanely cute or brilliant for a five year old. She hoped it would be brilliant.
“Well, when the water and dirt mix, why doesn’t it become mud?”
Jacob chuckled then replied with, “Well, its because the water just clings right onto a small particle of dirt, not even big enough to become mud.”
Aya looked out the passenger window, staring at each falling droplet that caught her eye, and uttered the phrase, “so the rain has little, tiny pieces of dirt
in it?”
“Yeah sweetie, it does.” Jacob replied.”
“Wow,” she said following with a big yawn. “I like the rain daddy.” She laid her head on the seat, with her eyes still watching the rain fall. Her fingers were
tracing the surface of a small silver chain which hung from her neck. They would lightly move down each link until it reached the point where they met, a
small obsidian trinket met at the end of the chain. The trinket was the Ourobourous, a small image of a snake eating its own tail that means eternity.
Jacob had given the necklace to Aya for her 7th birthday. Lily thought it a little disturbing to give a 7 year old an image of a snake eating itself but it seemed
important to him. She suggested that he give it to her when she was older but he was unbending with the details his plan. There were always several
things at which Jacob retreated into himself to deal with, and this was one of those cases. He was never completely open, always keeping some thing
very closely guarded, and in cases such as these it was blatantly obvious. But over the course of their short, at the time, marriage he seemed to realize
that Lily felt alone in situations such as these, so he gave an explanation.
His steel grey eyes locked onto hers and the look on his face was of complete and utter resiliency yet his eyes flashed quite a bit of sadness.
“If I give it to her when she is older, she won’t appreciate it. She may not understand it completely right now, but she’ll grow to. I want her to have it and if I
don’t give it to her right now, I just get the feeling that I won’t get a chance to,” He ended his explanation and continued to stare, waiting for her reply.
The look on his face at the time and the tone that his voice carried when he gave his explanation made it impossible for her to say no. His explanation
gave Lily many more questions, but it closed the matter at hand.
She gave a sad smile that indicated her understanding and nodded. They had gone to sleep that night quietly without speaking of the matter again. So
early that morning Jacob went into Aya’s room before she awoke, and just sat on the bed looking at her. He thought of his recent dreams, a dark rainy
night in which he and Lily were killed, his real reason that he needed to give Aya the necklace. He felt that if the events in his dream were going to happen
then the snake was a way to let her understand how he felt. And he hoped that she would grow to see why he had given her this at such an early age. If
indeed the events that he saw each night he slept did indeed happen, he would not have his daughter forget him.
Aya woke slowly, only several minutes after Jacob sat down, and looked at her him.
She sleepily smiled and with a tone that matched that of her smile said, “Its my birthday daddy.”
“I know Aya, and I’ve got a present for you.” He stated in a voice completely devoid of the sadness that he had shown Lily earlier. He removed a package
from behind his back. It was in an old oak case, with rusted iron hinges, small enough to barely hold 3 pencils.
Jacob opened it for her and Aya just stared. He pulled it slowly out of the box, the early morning light reflecting off the infinite black of the obsidian, and
unclasped it. He got off the bed, kneeled down and clasped it around her neck, leaning forward whispering into her ear.
“Aya, this necklace is a picture of a snake eating itself.” He said.
She cringed, moving her head slightly backward, her eyes started to water.
He continued, “Its called Ourobourous, can you say it?”
Her eyes had continued to slightly tear up but she tried, “Or-ub-ourus.”
“Try again sweetie,” he urged her, and then said it phonetically. “Its Our-rob-or-ross,”
“Our-rob-or-ross, Ourobourous?” She said, her eyes finally let loose its water at the idea of a snake eating itself.”
“Don’t cry honey, please.” He said while wiping the tears off her cheeks, then continued. “It isn’t scary, it means forever. This was my dad’s and he gave
it to me, just as his mother had him. I’ve always wanted to give it to you, ever since I first saw you. I knew it was yours. It was in your eyes. And I just want
you to know that I love you, and I will forever. For all eternity. That’s what this necklace says. Do you understand?”
Before she could respond he hugged her. She began to cry and completed the hug.
“I love you too, daddy.” She said between sobs. She didn’t understand why she was crying, but she knew the gift was important, and she loved it. He let
go of her then looked into her eyes. She was still crying, he wiped some of the tears away not acknowledging the fact that they continued to fall.
“Its just that the necklace is like you Aya. It’s an endless cycle.”
She stared at him, eyes full of tears, not understanding. He gazed back at her then continued, “You see, your name. Aya. Its spelled the same backwards
as it is forward. From whichever way you look at it is continuous. Same as the Ourobourous. Your mother suggested your name and I knew it was
perfect for you, for our little girl. Then when you were born and I saw you, I knew, I completely and totally knew, that you had to have the necklace,
because both of you are eternity. It was meant for you.
Jacob then stood up and walked toward the door. He looked over his shoulder, smiled, then said lovingly, “Stop crying hon, and you better get up, I think
your birthday breakfast is almost ready.”
She had gotten out of bed, and followed her father downstairs, running her fingers lightly over the necklace the whole way. Just as she was doing now, in
the car.
Lily watched as Aya slowly fell asleep. Lily knew that she had reached sleep when her hand finally fell from the obsidian Ourobourous. Lily felt that Aya
had the right idea so she turned to Jacob.
“Would you be able to stay awake if everyone else is asleep honey?” She asked.
“Sure, take a little nap, just put in my Weezer mix before you do. If I have something to sing along with I should be fine.” He replied.
She reached down at her feet and removed the Weezer mix from it, then placed it in the cd player.
“Thanks hon, I’ll wake you when we get to a hotel,” he said.
She moved her head over and kissed him on the ear, and he smiled. She then leaned her seat a little further back, not far enough to jar CJ but enough to
where she could sleep. As the opening riffs of Hash Pipe began to filter out of the speakers she drifted in and out of consciousness. She slowly stopped
listening to the music and concentrated on her breathing. The music faded to the background and eventually was completely shut out by the sound of her
own breathing. As her breathing slowed her body numbed and she finally fell asleep.
***
Surrounded by black Lily had no idea what was going on, the only thing that she could be sure of was that her children were in pain. Amidst the thundering
of the rain making contact with every surface of he overturned car, Aya’s cries could be heard distinctly alongside CJ’s. Lily could feel every anguish
filled scream.
“DADDY! MOMMY!” Aya screamed, voice full of pain.
CJ’s screams, despite the fact that they had no basis in language were no more comforting, if anything were worse than Aya’s. They echoed from the
interior and into Lily’s ears. She tried to go to, tried to at least look at her children, but movement and the opening of her eyes proved to be impossible.
“Lily! Lily are you okay?” Jacob questioned with ever increasing fear found in his voice. A shuffling could be heard which was undoubtedly Jacob trying to
move, he cringed letting barely any air escape.
“Daddy my head hurts, I can’t see!” Aya sobbed.
CJ’s cries continued.
“LILY! Answer me! I’m so sorry we got in an argument. I’m so sorry. I take it all back. If you just wake up I’ll know he exists. Just please. ” Jacob yelled,
he clenched his teeth and the sound of his breathing changed, with faster, sharper breaths.
“Dammit Jacob, help the kids.” Lily thought, but couldn’t manage to get the words out. As if he somehow heard her he acted.
His movement increased and several sharp pain filled gasps could be heard. Aya and CJ still cried. Lily kept trying to move, becoming more and more
frustrated with every attempt. Her body felt heavy and immobile along with her eyelids and voice. She knew this was a dream, it had to be. She wanted to
wake herself up, she had to. With every attempt at movement she felt nothing, not even the frustrating attempt of pushing on something that wouldn’t
move. That would have been comforting at this point. The rain started to fall harder.
Jacob began shouting over the ever increasing rainfall.
“Aya, honey. I’m going to need you to do something, can you hear me.” His voice sounded calmer, signifying that he had realized what he had to do.
“Daddy?” Aya wept.
CJ’s cries grew more frantic, and he had begun to cough.
“I need you to get CJ out of the car. Just unbuckle your seatbelt and then get his.”
“I can’t. My head, it hurts.” She responded.
“I know you can do it honey, I need you too. Please. Just unbuckle your seatbelt and grab onto the back of your seat, just lower yourself down to him.”
More movement could be heard as if Jacob were turning his body.
Aya started crying harder, not just sobs of pain but those of frustration, “I CAN’T! JUST HELP PLEASE DADDY, PLEASE. WHAT’S WRONG WITH
MOMMY?!”
CJ joined her screams and the noise was almost deafening.
Jacob was obviously distraught, but he hid it well. “I can’t help you yet honey, and mommy is sleeping, I’ll wake her up.” His voice was shaking at this
point and he choked what sounded like a sob down, he worked through it then continued. “But you have to get CJ out of the car. The back window is,” he
paused for a moment. “The back window is down, just lower yourself to him, unbuckle him then go out through the back. Please honey, I can’t do it and
neither can CJ.” He finished with a pain filled grunt.
He started moving and the sound of bending metal could be heard. He grunted full of pain, and must have realized that Aya hadn’t answered him and had
just continued to sob. He stopped moving and a voice that Lily had never heard before came from somewhere in the black.
“Please?” The tone was so sad, so pain filled and scared, that if Lily were able to she would have wept.
Aya responded as if she finally understood the severity of the situation, “I’ll try.” She said bluntly, yet still full of fear and sadness.
“Thank you honey, I know you can do it.”
“ No no, before you unbuckle the seatbelt grab the top of the
seat.”
A moment passed then the unbuckling of a seatbelt could be heard.
“Alright now just lower your down to his car seat. Just stand on the part next to the seat.”
The shuffling of feet and sobbing could be heard. CJ’s cries continued, but they weren’t as loud as before.
“Okay. What now?” Aya said painfully.
“Alright,” Jacob grimaced. “Now just step over him and lean against the door, don’t worry it won’t break the ground will hold it.”
Several moments passed then Jacob continued,
“Okay, good job, now just unbuckle him, when you do he’ll start to fall so you have to be ready to catch him. You know how to hold him so just get him
then crawl over the seat.”
Another unbuckling noise could be heard and CJ’s crying changed.
“Alright, good job honey, just go out the back and watch out for the glass. I’ll be out as soon as I can. All you have to do is wait on the side of the road.
She continued to move out the back until her footsteps could no longer be heard.
“Lily, Lily, wake up. Please, I have to get out and help Aya and CJ. Just wake up.”
He waited a few moments and then started to move. His painful grunting could be heard for a several seconds then an agonizing ripping could be heard.
Jacob screamed then fell, a loud crashing could be heard directly next to Lily along with a window breaking. Jacob screamed loudly.
A low grainy voice could be heard from outside the car along with CJ’s crying. Jacob’s heavy footsteps, along with his pain filled breathing, could be
heard scrambling over the broken windshield.
The grainy voice intensified. As did the wind and rain.
Through it all rang out Jacob’s voice, “GET AWAY FROM THEM PORTER! AYA, COME HERE, GET AWAY FROM HIM.”
Long agonizing seconds passed, with the only sounds being the wind and rain. Then without warning Jacob’s screams cut through, “YOU KILLED HER!
IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT, YOU SICK FUCK.”
“Killed?” thought Lily, “What’s he talking about?” Her thought was cut short by the strain of listening for more dialogue.
The noise from nature’s water show had completely blocked out the grainy quiet voice up until this point. Though while still nearly inaudible the tone could
be made out, it was angry and louder.
Jacob’s voice could be heard but it was now as low as the grainy one, and just as angry. The grainy one suddenly got louder.
“Aya, turn around sweetie.”
“Don’t you talk to her! DON’T YOU CALL HER SWEETIE!” Jacob screamed, “Turn around Aya, I don’t want you to see this.”
Nearly a minute passed with silence, except for the wind and rain, then a scream, Jacob’s scream, cut through the night. It was one of total agony, and
pain. Then as quickly as it had come. It ended. CJ’s and Aya’s cries were the only things that could be heard above the wind and rain.
***
Lily woke up with the scream echoing throughout her head. She looked about terrified and panting. The nightmare was quickly dissipating, leaving barely a
trace.
“Whoa, what’s wrong you okay? Nightmare?” Jacob asked.
“Yeah,” she said still panting, “it was so real, I couldn’t see anything but-” She finished suddenly, her body shuddering involuntary at the thought of the
dream. Her body felt cold, and she was shaking a little, despite the fact that had Jacob asked she probably couldn’t have given him anything more than
just a vague outline of what had happened in.
“Well, its over now, and I was just about to wake you up anyway. Coming off a hill just a minute ago I saw some lights down in the valley. We should be
there in a second.”
“Oh God, I can’t wait to get out of the car. And I’m sure the kids will be a lot more comfortable in a hotel.” She said, still shaking off the dream.
The car continued to head down into the valley, finally reaching pavement, along with the lights from several well spaced out homes. They continued
traveling until they passed a large wooden sign that said “Welcome to Lee’s Ridge!” Directly after passing that a small blue sign with a large white cross
declaring that it was only 1 mile from, the something’s “and” inn. A larger portion of the sign was rubbed off and it could have used a couple coats of new
paint.
“Well, is the ‘and Inn’ okay? I bet it’s the only one in town.” Jacob said.
“You really think?” Lily asked.
“Yeah, probably. We’re pretty far off the beaten path. Might as well stop and look at it.”
“Yeah I guess you’re right; plus its close and I’m sure CJ is going to wake up cranky any time now.”
They entered what was probably the center of town, it was complete with a very small post office, a diner, a mom and pop general store and one stoplight
that was continuously blinking red. Jacob slowed and yielded, continuing forward passing several houses that were located just past the center of town.
Two blocks down from the postoffice their headlights fell upon an intricately carved wooden cross and a small light shining upward into its “branches.” It
had been carved to look as if a tree had grown miraculously into the shape of the cross. It was quite striking, a Christian symbol mixed with pagan ideals.
Hanging from two hemp ropes upon the end of the cross bar that faced the road was a sign that bore the phrase “God’s Hand Inn.” With the rain and the
wind present the sign rocked back and forth as they slowed.
"Well, here we are." Jacob stated.
"Where exactly are we," replied Lily. She looked out the rain coated car window as Jacob pulled the car to the side of main street. Nothing could be seen
except a stone walkway leading past the cross into the darkness.
"Since we have no idea where a parking lot is I think we should just pull over here, follow the walkway up and then ask where we should park.” He looked
at her, waiting for a response.
Lily just glanced out into the rain up the path, then back into the car. Specifically into the backseat at CJ and Aya. After a moment she turned back toward
Jacob, his gaze exactly where it was before.
As her eyes met his, he opened his mouth and spoke:
“Since the kids are still asleep I could run up the path and talk to anyone who is there, that way we don’t have to bother them until we get an idea where
the parking lot is.”
She thought it over for a moment then responded:
“No, we’ll all go up there with you. I’m sure Aya will be glad to get out of the car, and CJ will go right back to sleep as soon as I get his hoodie on him.”
She reached into the bag at her feet and pulled out a small navy hoodie, and then sat it on her shoulder. Before getting out of the car she ejected the
Weezer mix out of the cd player and placed it back in the case, she hated leaving a cd in the car. Then she opened her door and stepped out into the rain,
the dome light flickered for the second that the door was open, then turned off. Lily stuck her hand out and pulled on the handle to the door leading to the
backseat, but it slipped out of her hand and fell to its former position loudly. She knocked on the window and Jacob quickly unlocked the door. She
reached out again and the door responded with its accepted response, the dome light turned on once again.
Lily slowly awoke CJ, he woke quietly and complied completely with the putting on of the jacket. She pulled the hood up around his ears then pulled the
drawstring, it tightened and only his nose and eyes could be seen.
She closed the door, the small sleeping child still in her arms.
The dome light turned off.
Lily opened the front door so that she could grab her bag.
The dome light turned on.
Jacob grabbed the bag before she could and removed a small green beanie from one of the side pockets. Aya awoke to the light show with a yawn.
“Where are we?” She asked.
Jacob handed the bag back to Lily then turned to his now awake daughter.
“We’re at the inn honey, we have to walk up so put on your beanie.” He held it out.
She looked at the beanie as if thinking about it, and then finally reached her hand out. She took it, then pulled it on over her long blonde hair. After doing
this she looked at Jacob then asked, “Daddy what’s an inn?”
He smiled unbuckled his seatbelt, removed the keys from the ignition then got out of the car. He opened the door adjacent to his daughter unbuckled her
seatbelt then answered her question.
“It’s a small hotel.”
“Oh okay.
He picked her up, swung her into his arms then walked toward the pavement where Lily was already waiting with CJ in her arms.
“Do you want to walk or do you want me to carry you?” Jacob asked her sweetly.
“Can I walk?” She responded.
He set her down to answer her question then he motioned that they all should follow him. He began to walk up the pathway stopping after a few steps to
examine the cross.
Its craftsmanship was remarkable. The base was constructed to look as if 5 thin trees had grown among each other spiraling round traveling both up to
the cross bars and descending into the earth where they were buried as mock roots. Ones that extending from all sides reaching out until they
descended past where they made a visible lump in the, if it were day, emerald green grass. At the center of the cross was an empty space from which
the crossbars reached out toward the road, and where Jacob imagined the inn would be found.
The crossbars were carved in the same fashion as the base, with a more spaced out pattern that gave the impression of sideways figure eights, or the
ourobourous, that extended outward in an impressive 8 foot, give or take a few, wingspan. At the tips of the crossbar the spiral unraveled, branching
outward to all sides giving what looked to be a perfect spherical pattern if one looked from straight on. The rope that was affixed on two of the
Ourobourous figure eights dropped to an oaken board that bore the words “God’s Hand Inn” in Old English lettering.
The most interesting part of the cross was what reached upward toward the sky from the breach in the center. It looked as if the upper portion of the
“trees” were going to follow the same design aesthetic as the base and the crossbars, but upon closer examination it could be seen that only 4 of the 5
parts of the spiral were converging to create the ourobourous. The final of the 5 was straight as an arrow with the others climbing at the same spacing all
around it. As they extended upward the design started to fall apart and the ourobourous figure eight pattern was broken with one of the branches thinning
then finally coming to a halt wrapped around the center one. The other 3 eventually followed its lead. The straight branch continued up into a thick point
stopping just above where all the others had thinned and wrapped around it. Not only was the craftsmanship remarkable but the wood seemed to glisten
due to the rain and the small light that sat shining upward from its base.
Jacob had stopped and stared for just a few moments but to him time had stopped. His eyes gazed up and down from base to peak examining every inch
over again. Lily shook him.
"Jacob, we're getting soaked. Lets go."
He turned and looked at for a second then shook his head.
"Jeez, you're right. I don't know what came over me. That carving is beautiful though, I wonder how long it took to make."
They began to walk again, moving into the darkness away from the cross. They continued to head into the darkness, finally finding themselves
surrounded by trees. The rain and darkness defeated any visibility but the rain had nearly stopped all around them so Jacob assumed that they must be
under trees. Ahead several small lights could be seen.
They walked in silence following the stone path toward the lights. After finally emerging from the trees, and being greeted by the torrential downfall of rain,
they came across a fork; one leading to a large brick building with a white marble cross over the door, and the other to a 2-story wooden building with a
satellite dish out on a peak of the roof. Neither had a sign. Candles were burning in the large brick one, as were several lights in the wooden 2-story.
“Which one do you think?” asked Jacob
“Probably the bigger one, it doesn’t look like the 2-story one could hold any guests, its probably just a house that the family who ones the inn lives in.” Lily
responded.
They walked forward, Jacob leading, and stopped in front of the large oak door of the brick building. Jacob knocked rather hard.
“Mommy, why are there candles in the windows?” asked Aya, whose had removed her beanie leaving her hair completely soaked.
“They probably don’t have any other people staying here and are trying to save money.” Lily responded.
“Yeah,” Jacob added, “maybe we should knock on the other one.
Lily turned around and began walking toward the wooden building, as did Jacob, but Aya stayed to examine the candles further.
“Come on Aya,” shouted Jacob over his shoulder.
She followed quickly as her parents walked in silence. The only sounds behind the wind and rain were their footsteps and the sounds of CJ fussing with
his hoodie. They were nearly at the door when it opened. CJ started to cry.
“Why hello, there, you folks looking for a place to stay.” called out a small man, in a very southern accent.
“Hello,” responded Jacob, “and yes, yes we are. Do you have any room?”
“Of course, course we do. Come on in.” The man insisted.
They walked in, CJ was still crying, and Aya looked around. The room was a rather nicely decorated living room, with a small fireplace that several
couches and chairs were arranged in a semi-circle around. A television set to the evening news out of New York or California, wherever the satellite had
been set to, was on a small table to the left of the fireplace. One of the chairs was pulled out of its spot in the semicircle and sat directly in front of the TV.
Several doors leading to other parts of the house were closed and the entrance to the kitchen could be seen on the opposite side of the room as the
fireplace.
The man, who was slightly balding and wearing a grimy old wife beater led them in front of an old desk, then turned around.
“So is it just the four of you?” He asked as his dark grey eyes moved attentively from Jacob to Lily and CJ, who was still crying, then finally landing on Aya.
His eyes flashed a color of unearthly yellow as they met Aya’s face.
“Yep just us,” stated Jacob.
The man rummaged around in the desk for a few seconds then pulled out a log, then for several more seconds then brought out a pen. He handed it to
Jacob. It only had 6 other names on it.
“Just print your name on the first line there.” he said, glancing at the sheet.
“Alright,” Jacob said as he took the log, he scribbled out Mr. Jacob Clarks, and family. Then looked up at the man as he handed it back.
His eyes were on Aya once again, but as if he felt the presence of Jacob’s eyes he looked back quickly, taking the log just as fast.
“Pretty eyes your daughter has. You ever hear the saying that a grey eyed person can see things meant only for Gods?”
“No, can’t say that I have,” responded Jacob with a laugh, one that brightened his own grey eyes.
The man’s eyes slowly moved back onto Aya, who having heard someone talking about her had turned, but he continued to talk to Jacob,
“Well its true,” he said raising a hand, tapping his temple, “and I should know.”
He turned his head back toward Jacob and finished with, “But I guess you should too,” signifying that he had noticed Jacob’s eye color as well.
Jacob was reminded of the cross sculpture by the man’s talk of gods and decided to ask about it.
“I was wondering, that carving out by the road, the one with your sign on it, who made that? Its beautiful.
The man looked as if he had no idea that there was a carving of a cross, that was in fact holding his sign. But then his eyes lit up.
“Oh, you mean the cross?” He said joyously.
“Yes, I was wondering how long it took to make and if it were possible the name of the artist who constructed it. I’d be very interested in seeing their other
work.” Jacob said with envy.
“Well,” he said looking down at the log book, “Mr. Clarks. His eyes looked up from the log and into Jacob’s eyes, “To see some more of the artist’s work
all you would have to do is look around. For its completely natural and a piece of our Lord’s work. That is unless you’re talking about the sign, that
happens to be a creation of my own.”
Jacob began to smile, then cocked his head partially sideways.
“You’re telling me that the amazing piece of artwork out by the road happens to be one of complete, natural luck.”
“No, I don’t believe I said that at all,” he said with a slight hint of anger in his voice, “I’m am quite sure that I told you with complete honesty the creator of
both the cross and the sign.”
Jacob’s smile faded, then with a strange force in his voice he responded to the man, whose eyes were still locked with his.
“If for some reason you’d rather not tell me who made it, I would prefer you just said that.”
The man, whose eyes flashed a sick color of yellow for a only moment, barely held his anger and then stated, “That clump of trees has been there since I
was a boy, it is completely natural with no human hands shaping it except for mine, which only tied those ropes upon it after I bought the land and had the
inn built. I assure you.”
Jacob shook his head and rather than continue this just remained quiet.
“Well, alright, Mr. Clarks,” his eyes had found there way back on Aya, “and family. Would you like one room or two?”
Jacob looked at Lily, who was rocking CJ in her arms, and then back at the man.
“Probably just one, and if we could get another blanket and pillow.”
“That’d be fine, and by the way,” he paused gazing into Lily’s eyes, then slowly moving to Aya, then Jacob, “My name is Porter, Porter Cain.”
The name suddenly filled Lily with dread, but for the life of her she couldn’t explain why. She had heard the name Porter somewhere but couldn’t recall.
“Maybe, I’m just tired,” she said.
Jacob started to laugh, then turned.
“You alright hon, who you talking to?”
She blushed realizing that she had been indeed talking to herself, and then without speaking this time she reassured herself that she was probably very
tired.
Porter moved forward and said “You all must be tired, you’ll probably be wanting to get to bed.” His eyes had remained staring at Aya as he said this.
Lily hadn’t heard what he’d said, she was too busy with her own thoughts. Jacob had, but he didn’t like how Porter continued to stare at Aya.
He stepped between the two and said, “Yeah, if we could get our key.”
“Oh we don’t have locks, I’ll just show you to your room.”
Jacob didn’t like the idea of no locks, but he moved toward the front door, expecting to be led outside to what he thought was the inn. Porter
stared as Jacob did this, then asked “Where you going?”
“Isn’t that the inn across the lawn there, where the other part of the path leads?”
Porter began to laugh, “No, no, that’s the church. I’m a minister you see. The rooms are upstairs.” Then quickly his tone changed, along with his face,
into almost anger “You didn’t go in there did you?”
Taken back by this change Jacob stammered, “N-No.” He quickly regained his composure, and added “Had we gone in I would’ve known it wasn’t an
inn.”
The anger in Porter’s face lessened and he spoke definitely spoke with less of it in his voice, “Oh yeah, hadn’t thought of that. You see no one’s allowed
in there except on Sunday’s. I don’t like the idea of people wandering in and out of the house of God.”
Jacob hadn’t liked the idea of staying here without any locks when he thought that they would be in a completely different building than this strange man,
but now he liked the idea even less. He was beginning to get an awful feeling from the man. Something about the way he looked, and continued to stare at
Aya. Lily obviously hadn’t noticed the way he stared because she was looking over her shoulder at the TV, waiting to be led to their room.
Jacob stayed by the door and then remembered that he had to move the car off the main road still, this would be his chance to talk to Lily. He may have
had a weird feeling about Porter, but he still didn’t want to offend this man in his home.
Porter had started to walk toward the back stairs, which were located behind a curtain, that none of them had noticed on first coming in, when Jacob
spoke up.
“I need to move our car, its out there right on the side of the road, do you have a parking lot or know of any place that we could park it for the night?” He
asked slyly.
“It should be fine there, that’s where most people park anyway,” Porter responded, leveling his eyes at Jacob as if he knew that he wanted to get out of
this place.
“Well we should at least lock the doors, come on Lily.”
She turned and could tell that Jacob was obviously distressed about something so she bent down and handed CJ to Aya.
“Here hold him honey, Daddy and I will be right back.”
“Okay, mommy,” she started to rock CJ like her parents had always shown her.
This was the last thing that Jacob had wanted, but as he was going to say something about it Lily walked forward, pulled open the door and dragged him
outside. He shut the door behind them. They walked to where the path forked then she faced him in the dark.
“What’s wrong?” she said with more than just a hint of concern in her voice.
“I don’t like this, have you seen the way he has been looking at Aya. I think it’d be better if we just found the interstate.” he said as the rain dripped down
his face, vaguely imitating a tear.
“I really don’t think its that big of a deal, its really rare that someone has grey eyes, and to have 3 in the same room, that has got to be a surprise to this
guy. You heard the thing he said about people with grey eyes being able to see things that only a God can. He is probably just excited about the prospect
of 3 people being in tune with God, he is a minister after all.” she replied while looking over her shoulder at the church.
“Please, Lily. I don’t get a good feeling by being here. I don’t want any of us staying here, especially Aya.” He stared into her eyes, not knowing if she
could see him in the reflected light of candles and electricity.
She gazed back into the eyes of the man that she had loved for the better part of 7 years and thought. She didn’t know why but something inside made
her dislike Porter. It may have been due to what Jacob was saying, but beforehand, when she heard his name it bothered her. But not so much that it
made her want to drive through the night in the rain. But once again she could see in his eyes that he wanted nothing more than for her to comply. She
reluctantly nodded.
“Okay, lets go get the kids. Just tell him that we’ve changed our minds and ask him where the interstate is.”
“Alright,” he smiled, “and thanks, I owe you one.”
“You owe me two,” she said while returning the smile.
He leaned forward and gave her a hug. She clinched him tight then kissed him on the neck. They both released then walked back to the inn.
The door opened and Jacob and Lily walked in, to see Porter kneeling in front of Aya, her back was to them. Jacob’s eyes flared, he walked forward.
“GET YOUR HA-” he shouted, but his voice trailed off as he realized that Porter was just examining Aya’s necklace. Porter let the necklace fall back to its
position on Aya’s chest, and stared up at him.
“I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t shout, I do have a daughter sleeping right next to this room.” He stated angrily.
“I was showing him Ourob-boris, daddy.” Aya said proudly.
“I see that honey, will you take CJ over to mommy please.” He looked at his daughter, wanting to get her as far away from this man as possible.
As Aya handed CJ to Lily one of the doors leading to the other parts of the house opened and a small girl, who looked the same age as Aya, exited. She
walked up to Porter and looked up at him with sleep filled eyes, he bent down and picked her up.
“This is my daughter, Alexis.”
Her eyes and hair were the same colors as Aya’s.
“Da, what was that noise?” she sleepily asked.
“Nothing honey, it was just Mr. Clarks here. He got a little excited. But he’s calmed down now, do you want to help me show them up to their room?”
He pushed the curtain back that reveled the stairway and began to walk up it. Alexis closed her eyes and leaned against her fathers shoulder. Then
answered his question.
“Yes.” She said sleepily, yawning afterwards.
“Actually, Porter,” called Jacob after him, “we’ve decided that we’re just going to head on to the interstate, if you could tell us how to get there.”
Porter stopped on the narrow stairs and turned around. He looked at Jacob for a moment then proceeded to walk back down. His eyes flared up angrily
for a moment but he quelled the emotion hoping that they hadn’t noticed it.
He walked straight past Jacob, not answering him, then set Alexis down in the chair that had been pulled out of the semicircle. After setting her down he
turned and faced Jacob.
“Well, I wouldn’t really recommend going out in the rain, further down the road the bridge could be washed out and you wouldn’t even know until you went
in the drink. It has been raining all day after all.”
“No, we’ve decided that we’d like to get back on our way, we’ve spent all day driving on these back roads and we have a lot of time to make up.”
“I really wouldn’t recommend leaving,” he said in a strange tone, one that Jacob couldn’t really pin down.
“Thank you for the advice Porter, but I think we need to be on our way, now if you could please just tell us how to get back on the interstate from here.”
“Well, okay. Can’t keep you here against your will, even if I know its for your own good,” he turned and looked at Aya. “Just keep on heading down this
road, in 30 or 40 miles, if you make it that far, you’ll see a sign. Take a left, you’ll be on access road 128, then keep traveling until you see a sign for the
on ramp. But I’m advising you, the bridge is probably washed out, so you really shouldn’t do this.”
Jacob, already making up his mind about what to do, responded, “Once again, thanks for the advice, but we really need to be going.”
Jacob turned toward Lily and she opened the door. Alexis sat up at the noise and looked out. Lily, CJ, and Aya were waiting for Jacob. They all looked at
her. She looked at Lily and said plainly, “Goodbye.”
“Well, goodbye Alexis.” Responded Lily sweetly.
Jacob walked past the group out into the rain, Aya looked at Alexis.
“Bye,” she said in a sleepy tone.
“See you soon.” called Alexis into the dark as Lily closed the door behind Aya.
Jacob stopped and told Lily to take CJ to the car, she nodded and continued to walk. He waited for Aya to get to him, then he bent down and scooped her
up before she realized what was going on.
“Tired honey?” He asked, then kissed her on the forehead.
“Yeah,” she said while yawning.
She leaned her head against his shoulder and was asleep before he had taken anymore steps. He made it to the car just after Lily had put CJ in his car
seat. She looked as tired as Aya. He opened the door and put Aya in her seatbelt. As soon as he closed the door her head fell to the side and lay against
the window. He took a step forward then opened the driver’s side door. He climbed in, pulled on his seatbelt and started the car. Before putting it in gear
he looked at Lily. She lay against the door, seatbelt bunched up in her hair but not across her chest, and was nearly asleep.
He spoke to her, “Thank you honey, I just didn’t get a good feeling from him. I don’t know what it was, but the way he looked at Aya, and how he wouldn’t
tell me who made that carving. It was just strange.”
She lifted her head then opened her eyes, “It’s okay Jacob, I got the same feeling when I heard his name, but how do you know he wasn’t telling the
truth?”
He stared at her with a look of absurdity on his face, “What? That’s insane. How could something like that be natural?”
She looked at him, their views on religion and the supernatural had always differed. But not to the point of arguing, they had just never dwelled on it. It
seemed this time that there contradictory views would come to light though.
“He didn’t say that it was natural. He said that it was a miracle.” She stated bluntly.
“You believe that?” he said in disbelief.
“I actually do, what reason did he have to lie?” she asked.
He just sat in silence, she knew what he was thinking, about how stupid she could be sometimes. She hated being judged, even if that wasn’t actually
what he was thinking its what his silence was making her feel. She turned away from him and faced the window, staring out into the ever falling rain. Her
hands mindlessly removed the tangles from her hair, setting the seatbelt aside and all she could think about was how close minded he could be.
All he could think about was how naive she could be. She of all people, she was an intelligent rational person. How could she possible believe that god
had just decided to bend and warp a clump of trees into one of the most beautiful sculptures that he had ever seen. He still couldn’t believe that she
thought god existed, let alone did sculptures for fun on the weekends. He would have never told her this, because he understood that a persons belief
was normally the center of their emotional core, when he had believed in god he never refrained from laughing at it. At the time he knew it was true so
why couldn’t you laugh at it? People confused him.
After sitting in silence for quite some time he put the car in gear and drove off. He stared into the narrow beam of light that the headlights provided and
whenever he began to daze all he had to do was think of Porter’s warning. That’s all he could really think about. The thought that he wouldn’t see the
bridge that lay hidden somewhere in the murky black scared him, because if they ended up careening into it, then he would be completely at fault. He
continued checking his speed to make sure that if a gaping hole where a bridge should be suddenly came into view he would be able to stop, even with
the rain.
So when they finally came across it he was filled with relief. It came into view as slowly as he was traveling, and as soon as they got on it he sped up.
They crossed the bridge quickly and he continued to speed up, Jacob worried about falling asleep so bent over to grab his cd case. He reached over to
Lily’s side trying not to wake her up. He continued to glance up every few seconds, keeping his eyes both on the road and looking for the cd’s. This was
becoming tiresome. He turned his head quickly toward the floor and pulled out the cd’s. Lily’s habit of taking the cd out of the player was beginning to piss
him off. He finally found the case, after having to reach all the way across Lily. He grabbed it then pulled it up. He looked out the windshield and saw a
dark figure in the middle of his headlights. The figure was Porter. Jacob slammed on the brakes and the tires began to skid.
Porter stared intently from the middle of the road eyes glazed and speaking quietly to himself. Repeating the same unintelligible phrase over and over
again.
Both tires on the right side suddenly locked and the car rolled suddenly. The force drove Jacob forward along with everyone in the car, the sounds from
inside were of screaming, metal grinding upon pavement, and of course the sounds of the rain falling. The car rolled over completely and then came to a
halt on the passenger side panels. The rain continued to fall splattering atop the side panel that had ended up facing the sky. The drops fell exploding
atop the oil blackened pavement, along with the small pieces of safety glass that had begun to let go of its designed purpose. The reflection of the car’s
only working headlight gave a hauntingly beautiful pattern of rainbows that, were it not for the circumstances that created it, would be beautiful. The
windshield lay shattered across both lanes, reflecting the light of the ever blinking turn signal into the turbulent continuously changing surface of large
puddles that had formed atop the blacktop. From within the car cries emitting from CJ and Aya could be heard.
“DADDY! MOMMY!” Aya screamed, voice full of pain.
Jacob tried to sit up, still in a daze, blood dripping from his forehead. He sat, held by the seatbelt and his crushed arm, horizontal to the ground. His left
arm was pinned between the ceiling and the frame of the window. His skin was covered in blood and the upper portion of his shirt was torn to shreds. He
bent forward to the extent that his arm, and gravity, would allow and turned to see Lily.
She lay crumpled 5 feet from the position that Jacob was in, unlike himself she hadn’t put on her seatbelt and so she wasn’t neatly suspended. The
passenger side window had exploded inward when the car rolled and she lay covered in the safety glass with one arm pinned underneath the frame of
the car. Her light blonde hair was stained red and her back was contorted in a rather unnatural position. Jacob examined the scene with his face sat to
terror. He could hardly manage to get enough breath to speak.
“Lily! Lily are you okay?” he questioned with ever increasing fear found in his voice. He tried to free his arm from the metal that had bent inward, trapping
him. As he moved his arm the neurons which had barely been registering now fired with such ferocious intensity that he couldn’t even muster a scream,
instead he cringed letting barely any air escape.
“Daddy my head hurts, I can’t see!” Aya sobbed. She and CJ both had been in seatbelts and were now suspended horizontal to the ground as well.
Jacob ignored both their cries, he barely heard them to be honest, and continued to stare at Lily.
He shouted above the rain and the cries of his children, “LILY! Answer me! I’m so sorry we got in an argument. I’m so sorry. I take it all back. If you just
wake up I’ll know he exists. Just please. ” His voice was getting more high pitched with every word. He clenched his teeth and his breathing changed, it
was getting faster with every breath he took. He waited, eventually holding his breath. He stared at Lily’s body, examining it for any movement, his eyes
started to water and he realized her body was barely recognizable with its red tint and how it lay.
The rain started to fall harder and with its sudden louder thundering on the shell of the car Jacob began to shout over the ever increasing rainfall.
“Aya, honey. I’m going to need you to do something, can you hear me.” His voice was calmer, he realized what he had to do.
“Daddy?” Aya wept.
CJ’s cries grew more frantic, and he had begun to cough.
“I need you to get CJ out of the car. Just unbuckle your seatbelt and then get his.”
“I can’t. My head, it hurts.” She responded.
“I know you can do it honey, I need you too. Please. Just unbuckle your seatbelt and grab onto the back of your seat, just lower yourself down to him.”
He turned his body, metal bending as he did, he clenched his teeth once more, then looked at his daughter. Her hair was matted with red and black, and
one of her eyes looked swollen shut. The other that stared downward at her hands was full of tears that hadn’t yet followed the ones that were streaming
down her cheeks. She was looking for the seatbelt release and trying to position herself so that she could hold onto the back of the seat.
Suddenly she dropped her hands into her lap and looked at her father, the tears that hadn’t fallen yet began to pour outward and she started to sob, and
with a mix of pain and frustration she shouted, “I CAN’T! JUST HELP PLEASE DADDY, PLEASE. WHAT’S WRONG WITH MOMMY?!”
CJ joined her screams and the noise was almost deafening. Jacob cringed at the sounds and he was obviously distraught but he hid it well when he
addressed Aya.
“I can’t help you yet honey, and mommy is sleeping, I’ll wake her up.” His voice started to shake and he choked down a sob then continued. “But you
have to get CJ out of the car. The back window is,” he turned his gaze from her into the darkness behind her seat and realized that it had shattered, “The
back window is down, just lower yourself to CJ, unbuckle him then go out through the back. Please honey, I can’t do it and neither can he.” He grimaced
and unlocked their gaze.
Turning his attention to the metal which had incased his arm he began to push against it, trying to free his arm. The metal was immobile. He lifted his
legs, putting all his weight on the crushed arm which made tears stream from his eyes. He wanted to scream but kept it inside because he knew that it
wouldn’t help Aya any to hear him in direst. He wedged his uninjured hand under the metal then pushed up against the steering wheel with his legs. It
started to bend crushing his arm further down near the elbow but releasing it further up. The elbow apparently was an epicenter of the injury though
because the pain increased tenfold and he let slip a grunt of pain.
The excess amount of neurons firing made his mind clear and he realized that Aya hadn’t answered him. He could hear her sobbing from the back.
He turned his attention to the back and with his mind at complete clarity asked her in the saddest voice that Aya had ever heard in her short life, “Please?”
The severity of the situation finally hit her and she looked at her father. His eyes shook and his face was pale. She stopped sobbing and knew that she
had to do what he asked because for some reason he couldn’t help them.
Aya made her voice as strong as she could then said bluntly “I’ll try.”
“Thank you honey, I know you can do it.” He said with relief.
He looked on as she started to unbuckle her seat, he butted in quickly.
“ No no, before you unbuckle the seatbelt grab the top of the
seat.”
She turned her body then put her arm around the top of her
headrest. She dug her feet into the gap where the seatbelts were then she unbuckled hers.
“Alright now just lower yourself down to his car seat.” She hung on to the top of her headrest then lowered her body downward so that it was horizontal to
the ground.
“Just stand on the side of his seat.”
Her feet were several inches from the edge of the carseat, she extended her toes and it came to rest on the side. Jacob hoped that the seatbelts held or
else he would regret ever telling his daughter to attempt this. She started to sob, then let go of the headrest. The carseat slid a little bit but the seatbelts
held. Aya was now directly perpendicular to CJ and then looked at him. He turned his head toward her and his cries continued but they weren’t as loud as
before. She stopped then looked at her father.
“Okay. Now what?” she said painfully.
“Alright,” Jacob grimaced. “Now just step over him and lean against the door, don’t worry it won’t break the ground will hold it.”
She did exactly what he said and ended up standing on an unbroken window next to CJ.
“Okay, good job, now just unbuckle him, when you do he’ll start to fall so you have to be ready to catch him. You know how to hold him so just get him
then crawl over the seat.”
She unbuckled the carseat then caught CJ as he started to fall, despite the warning it caught her off guard and she fell against the door slightly. She
began to crawl on the window while heading toward the back.
Jacob watched, pleased that his daughter had done it, realized that he needed to get himself out now, and then said “Alright, good job honey, just go out
the back and watch out for the glass. I’ll be out as soon as I can. All you have to do is wait on the side of the road.”
She crawled over the far back windows then stood to avoid the glass which had spilled out over the chunks. She took several steps forward then reached
the broken out back window. She stooped downward holding CJ close to her blood covered chest, and stepped out into the rain.
Jacob turned back toward Lily as Aya’s footsteps were washed away by the rain and wind. He stared at her for a moment longer then spoke,
“Lily, Lily, wake up. Please, I have to get out and help Aya and CJ. Just wake up.”
He waited a few moments for a response but he knew one wasn’t coming. So he started to move. He pushed his legs upward again against the dash
and tried to extend his arm but it wasn’t moving. He needed to get of the car to Aya so he removed his seatbelt. It was still partially wrapped around his
arm but all of his weight was divided against his legs and his mangled arm. The shirt started to tear along with part of his arm. He grunted for a moment
then as the ripping of his shirt and fleshed increased he started to scream. The metal bent and his arm was released. He continued to scream as he fell.
He landed atop Lily as his legs swung forward striking the windshield, it cracked then broke. He screamed as the safety glass rained down upon him and
Lily’s body.
He lay, his body crumpled atop Lily’s, and he just wanted to stay here. To die, as he was sure he could if he wanted, with his wife. But his thoughts turned
to Aya as he tried to stand. His left arm was immobile, or at least the pain caused it to be, and it buckled several times as he tried to stand. Rather than
have it happen again he rolled over and got into a position so that he could crawl out the broken windshield.
He moved slowly over it at first but as he got out of the car he noticed a grainy voice, one that belonged to Porter. He stood up as straight as he could
then stumbled forward. His right arm cradled the immobile one and he stomped forward away from the car. CJ was crying and Aya just stared at him.
Jacob stomped forward and as he was about to yell, Porter cut him off.
“I hate to say it but I told you Jacob, the roads are dangerous when it rains,” his voice had almost a mock tone.
The wind and rain increased but Jacob’s voice cut through it all.
“GET AWAY FROM THEM PORTER! AYA, COME HERE, GET AWAY FROM HIM.” Jacob screamed into the black. His eyes were full of rage and his
working arm was badly shaking. Porter stared into Aya’s face and she stared back, her eyes wide with terror. She hadn’t even responded when Jacob
had spoke to her. Long agonizing seconds passed, the only sounds being the wind and rain. Aya still stood staring transfixed into Porter’s glazed over
eyes. Jacob shook with anger and finally exploded.
“YOU KILLED HER! IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT, YOU SICK FUCK.”
Porter turned his head away from Aya and gazed at Jacob. He stared for a moment then spoke louder, more angrily.
“That type of language isn’t necessary, there are children present, and I most certainly didn’t kill anyone. You were warned not to leave.”
Jacob’s voice got lower and more quiet.
“What do you mean I was warned, you said the bridge might be out, not that you’d show up and roll our car! What do you want with Aya?” He growled.
“Nothing personal, but the girl is necessary.”
Jacob’s voice could be heard but it was now as low as Porter’s, and just as angry, “I’m not going to let you take her.”
Jacob stumbled forward, Porter turned his head toward Aya, who still looked terrified at the appearance of Porter, who was supposed to be 30 miles
behind them.
“Aya, turn around sweetie.” He said still in the low, angry voice. He turned his head back just as Jacob closed in on him, screaming.
“Don’t you talk to her! DON’T YOU CALL HER SWEETIE!” Jacob screamed. He stumbled forward raising his unhindered fist and shouted to Aya, “Turn
around Aya, I don’t want you to see this.”
Aya broke eye contact with Porter and turned quickly; clutching CJ, who was still crying, to her chest.
Jacob fell to the ground before Porter, his adrenaline faltering. His anger drove him up again, despite the fact that he was dizzy and was losing all feeling
in his extremities. Porter walked backwards slowly staying just out of Jacob’s reach. His eyes flashed yellow, and he began to chant in the same fashion
that he had been as the car rolled. He stopped chanting and a grin came across his face. Jacob stopped suddenly and turned even more pale, than he
had been before.
Aya looked over her shoulder as her father stood motionless before the man she had talked to at the inn, and watched on as the man’s eyes glowed
yellow. Her father continued to stumble forward, fist raised in anger and his eyes glowed a menacing red.
Porter’s eyes flashed and fire burst out of Jacob’s eyes.
Jacob’s vision flashed red and orange for a moment then turned black. Pain signals shot directly back into his brain, causing him to wail.
Aya screamed as her father did.
Blindness struck Jacob as a meteor does any random heavenly body, hard and with causing great damage. He howled, clawing at his eyes, as the
fingers on each hand sunk in. When his eye lids had burned off during the initial combustion, it seems that he had forgotten that his arm was immobile
and quickly allowed it to try and put out the flame that escaped his head. As his fingers clawed in the burning spread up his arms and burst out his back, it
moved down his chest and around his torso burning all that it met. He fell to the ground as it reached his crotch and contorted. It moved down his legs
and into his chest burning away at his arteries and lungs, his screaming continued even after his heart had burned away. His chest caved completely in,
ash burst outward and looked almost like long grey ghosts. His legs were nothing but nubs and they continued to kick as his skull melted inward onto his
brain. Not until the fire severed his vocal cords did his screaming stop.
Aya however continued to howl. CJ did as well. She raised her head up toward the clouds and screamed into the falling water until her strength gave out.
Her legs buckled and she fell forward onto her knees then toppled over sideways onto CJ’s lower body. He screamed, then passed out.
Porter watched as the fire burned itself out, leaving only the arms and ribs intact, and then congratulated himself on how well the incantation worked. He
had only practiced it on forest animals and inanimate objects before tonight. But with the fire having been dissipated completely he turned his attention to
the screaming children.
He stepped over the charred husk that had been Jacob Clarks only minutes before and watched as Aya fell atop CJ. They both stopped screaming. rolled
Aya over carefully. He picked CJ up as if he were a full garbage bag and held him by an arm. He looked over CJ’s body and stopped at his face to
examine the eyes, they were clear water blue. He set CJ aside and turned his attention to Aya. He looked down at her swollen eye and blood stained hair.
His eyes once again flashing the unearthly yellow and he smiled. He raised his hands vertically to the ground, had anyone been watching he would have
taken on the appearance of the cross, and raised his face to the sky.
“I have found the second half of your sacrifice oh Creator God, here me, HEAR ME!” He shouted into the deafening wind an rain in a booming voice that
did not suit his frail body.
He lowered his head and arms, then scooped Aya up and began to walk into the woods. Then before he said his de-materialization incantation he
remembered CJ. He looked back into the oil stained road and realized that he had found a bargaining chip. Porter strolled forward and picked him up in
the same fashion as he did before and then walked away from the dimming headlights of the overturned car. He stepped into the woods and began to
chant in a low voice a bit of indescribable language then in a flash of yellow he was gone.
Aya awoke to sunlight and screams. Not screams coming from CJ but rather herself and sunlight coming from of course the sun. The scream was being
emitted from her mouth, and the sunlight streamed in from an open window. She took this in quickly then sat up and threw off several layer of sheet that
had been tucked in around her. Her screams had stopped just for a moment, when she took a second to wonder why she had been screaming. But of
course they continued when she remembered the events of the previous night and how her father had screamed when he burst into flames.
She jumped off the bed, and she finally stopped screaming, suddenly realizing that the room she had found herself in was not one of which she was
familiar. She set to the task of examining it then finding her parents. She had come to the conclusion that it had all been a dream. The room was lightly
furnished with hardwood floors and a small bathroom set just near the bed. She went to the window and looked out, the rain had stopped and everything
was wet and sparkling in the sun. The emerald green glass had a gleam that made her smile and she couldn’t wait to tell her daddy how scary the
nightmare that she had was. But then she began to wonder where her parents were, and CJ too. Whenever she had awoken to her own screams often
times her parents were in the room before she could sit all the way up. But it had been several minutes since then as far as she could tell.
She stepped off the bed and walked toward the door, a mirror set atop an antique dresser caught her eye and she examined her face. The image that
greeted her wasn’t her normal one. This one was all puffy and had a large bandage above her left eye, and rather than having any of her clothes, she was
wearing a heavy, almost garish, pink cotton nightgown, one that was definitely too long. She started to get scared. If she was hurt then that means that
her dream could have been real.
She ran toward the door and grabbed onto the handle pulling inward as hard as she could. It didn’t budge.
“DADDY!” She screamed as loud as she could, as she started to bang on the door.
“MOMMY! Please let me out,” she screamed.
No one came to her cries and she started to sob. She fell to the ground, nightgown crumpling beneath her. Tears ran from both eyes onto fell to her
clothes, leaving stained trails of moisture on the hideous pink fabric. She started crying louder and didn’t notice the door knob turning.
The door opened and in stepped Porter. Aya started screaming even louder still, she had recognized him instantly. She tried to open the window so that
she could climb out, but it wouldn't move. He grabbed the back of the nightgown that she had on. He grabbed her by the shoulders then turned her around.
“I WANT MY MOMMY AND DADDY,” she screamed hysterically. Tears continued to fall, now reaching his hands.
He held tightly He reached his hand back then slapped her across the face.
“Quit that, that is no way to act.” He said bluntly.
She was quite dazed from the shock of the impact, she had never been hit before. He lowered her to the ground, shut the window and locked it, with a
key he had. He turned and looked at her.
“I’ll have Alexis bring breakfast up to you in a moment, if you cry like that again I’ll hit you harder.”
He walked past the dazed Aya and left the room. She heard it lock behind him.
She sat up and started to cry.
“Why did he hit me?” she thought, sadly, and all of a sudden she knew that all of her family was gone. She started sobbing uncontrollably. Her eyes
leaked, as did her nose and she once again didn’t notice the door opening. Alexis, who looked exactly like she did, entered with a tray and stood in the
doorway holding it while Aya cried.
“I have food for you,” she said quietly, and rather uninterested, while Aya wept.
“I DON’T WANT IT!” She screamed then buried her head under the pillows on the bed. Aya continued to cry as she heard the door shut beyond the veil of
pillows. She sat sobbing continuing to weep, feeling the hot streams fall and get enveloped by the cloth. She rubbed her hands against her cheeks hoping
to get rid of the moisture when she felt the area on her face that Porter had struck. She hate him. But at the same time was completely overwhelmed with
fear of him. She just remembered his threat, and how she had just sent Alexis away. Her eyes began to water again at the thought that he would be
coming back soon but quickly stopped with the realization that her crying would probably anger him even more. She moved to the corner of the bed and
straitened the ugly pink nightgown. Her breathing was fast and wet. She continued to try and swallow it out of fear. She managed to stop her crying and
control her breathing, her fear wouldn’t show, no matter how badly it burned inside of her. Aya decided that she would hide it or die trying. For the next
several hours she sat on the edge of the bed waiting for Porter.