After Forever (9 page)

The officer led me to the bathroom. “Do you
need anything? Some water maybe?”

I nodded again, choking back tears. “Yes,
that would be nice. I’ll just be a minute.” I pushed the bathroom
door open, stepped inside and completely lost it. I cried and
cried, until I threw up. That made me feel slightly better, but
only physically. Emotionally, I was a wreck. My parents were dead,
Wyatt was in the hospital, and Rania was hurt, all because of me. I
was even more determined to end this all. I had to. I had to avenge
my parents’ deaths. I owed them that much.

I composed myself as best I could, splashed
some water on my face, took a couple deep breaths, and headed back
out into the hallway. The officer was there with a glass of water.
He handed it to me and I took a small sip. Stella and Rania were
close behind him.

“Are you ready to go home?” Stella asked.
“She isn’t needed for anything else, is she?” her eyes now focused
on the officer.

“Oh, no, she’s free to go. We’ll call if we
need anything else.” Then turning his attention back to me, “My
apologies for your loss.” He turned and walked away.

“Let’s get out of here,” Rania insisted.
“This place gives me the creeps.”

Once we were out in the parking lot, I
insisted that I needed to go back to my house. “I think I found
mom’s books on fighting the witch. It was in an antique trunk in
the back of her closet. It’s locked though. I need to find the key.
It’s important. Please, Stella, can you drop me off at the house.
I’ll leave as soon as I find the key.”

She dropped Rania and me off at the house.
Rania insisted that I shouldn’t be left alone. I would have been
fine, but there was no arguing with her, and Stella agreed, so
Rania stayed with me.

Once we were inside the house, Rania
demanded I show her the trunk. “It will be easier to find the key
if we know what it looks like. You know, from the lock on the
trunk.” She had a point.

Once we were upstairs, I pulled the trunk
out of the closet again and set it on the bed. Rania glanced at it
casually and said, “From the looks of it, it’s a small skeleton
key.” How she knew that, I would never comprehend. “Actually, now
that I think of it, I’m pretty sure I saw one when I was rooting
through the drawers in the kitchen, in the junk drawer.”

“Well, go get it then!” I was hoping it was
what we needed. I didn’t think I could stay in this house,
especially this room for much longer.

Rania hurried from the room, not at all
happy about having to be the one to go get the key. But I insisted
it had to be her, since she knew what she was looking for. A few
minutes later she waltzed back into the room, holding up a key,
happy with herself. She tossed the key at me, “Well, let’s try it
and see.”

The key bounced on the bed next to me. I
picked it up and placed it in the lock. It fit perfectly. I turned
it and the lock clicked open. Inside the box were several extremely
old journals. They had to be what I needed. I flipped one open. The
pages were yellowing, and there was flowing, cursive on all the
pages. It was hard to read, but with some effort, I could make out
what it was saying. It was an account of what happened with the
witches back in the 1600’s. “This is it,” I exclaimed. “This is
what we need to fight back. With my mom’s journals and your dad’s,
I think we can do this!”

“Great, let’s get out of here then,” Rania
demanded. “It’s awkward being in here, after seeing your parents at
the police station.” I couldn’t agree more with that statement.

I told Rania if she wanted to go back to the
hospital to spend time with her dad that she could. I would manage
the research by myself. I knew full well that Rania would be no
help at all. She hated reading, she hated studying. I was better
off doing this myself. She agreed, but promised she’d be back later
on to help me. I knew she wouldn’t, but didn’t argue with her.

Over the next several hours I poured through
my mom’s and Wyatt’s journals, hoping for something, anything that
would tell me how to stop Cinder. There had to be a way to stop all
of this. I ended up falling asleep at Wyatt’s desk. When I woke up,
it was well past midnight. That’s odd, why hadn’t Stella or Rania
woken me.

I got up and stretched, then wandered out to
the living room. No one was there. They probably already went to
bed. I climbed the stairs to Rania’s bedroom. She wasn’t in there.
That’s extremely odd. She should have been home by now. I tried to
write it off as nothing. Maybe she decided to spend the night
there. Yes, that has to be it. But in the pit of my stomach I knew
something was wrong, very wrong.

There was nothing I could do at this late
hour. I’d call Rania in the morning. It wasn’t enough to keep the
nightmares away though. I woke up around 6 a.m. and couldn’t fall
back asleep. I got out of bed and dressed, made myself some
breakfast, and waited. It was still too early to call Rania. But I
couldn’t just sit here idle.

I grabbed my car keys and headed out the
door. I was going to find out what was going on. I drove to the
hospital. At least I tried to. I couldn’t get anywhere near it. All
the roads were blocked. I could see smoke wafting from the
direction of the hospital. No! No, no, no!

I parked the car and walked towards the
barricade. A police officer tried to stop me. “My friend, she was
in there,” I screamed at him. “What’s happened, tell me what’s
happened!”

“You can’t go in there, there was an
explosion. I can’t tell you anything else. I’m sorry. You’ll have
to leave now.”

“But my friend…”

“I’m sorry young lady, but you have to
leave,” the officer insisted.

I wasn’t going to get any information this
way. What was I going to do now? Cinder had taken everything away
from me. I had nothing left. I went back to my car, sat there and
cried. Once I couldn’t cry any more, I headed back to Rania’s
house. There was only one thing left to do.

Cinder was sitting on the steps to the house
when I got there. It made things so much easier for me. He looked
up at me as I approached, almost as if he was happy to see me. I
picked him up, holding him close. “It’s okay Cinder. I won’t hurt
you,” I murmured to him, petting him gently.

Still holding him, I walked into the house.
I put him in Rania’s room and got him a bowl of milk. Once he was
distracted by the milk, I went back downstairs and found a bottle
of lighter fluid in the garage and a box of matches. I knew what I
had to do.

I dowsed the entire ground floor in lighter
fluid, and then standing at the bottom of the stairs, I struck a
match and dropped it. Walking up the stairs, I watched the flames
consume everything around me.

Slowly, I walked back to Rania’s room,
closed the door and waited. Waited for it to all end.

Puss and the Bone of
Riches

By S. Cu’Anam Policar

©by S. Cu’Anam Policar

“Hey Puss!” The voice is almost childlike
with a pseudo mobster twang as my name passes through his lips.

My orange ears pique as I turn the upper
half of my body to look at the owner of the voice, who I know from
experience, is none other than Valdez, my boss.

I’m definitely unique in this town of
hounds. Standing five foot even, I’m not what one would call tall.
I keep myself in tip top shape, I have to in my line of work. It
shows too as my sleek orange furred form twists almost completely
around. I lift a white furred paw and brush the orange fur on my
face as my amber depths fall on Valdez.

“What?” I practically hiss to the large
Doberman who’s dressed in a charcoal colored pinstriped suit.

Valdez adjusts his wide brimmed hat, which
matches his suit, and brings it lower on his head almost covering
his left eye. The butt of a cigar teeters dangerously as his sharp
featured muzzle opens. “I have a job for you Puss.”

My amber depths roll dramatically as I
command my legs to twist and realign with my upper body. “Look
Snoopy I told you I’m out of the business. I have better things to
do than play fetch for a bunch of flea ridden mongrels... Present
company included.”

Valdez growls low in his throat as he first
plucks the cigar butt from his maw then flicks it in my direction.
Both of our gazes watch the arch of the butt’s ascent before it
begins its descent to land a few inches from my black boots. I lift
a black leather clad leg and stomp on the butt as I smirk to my
former boss.

“You walk a fine line feline. If it wasn’t
for me you’d have been mauled the day your sorry excuse for fur
arrived here. This place ain’t called Dog Walk City for nothing you
know.” Valdez reminds me as he seems to every time I try to deny
him a job.

I drum the claws of my right hand on my left
arm, my tail swishing in agitation. “It won’t work this time. I
told you last time Valdez, I’m done. I have enough respect earned
in this town to stay or go, either way I won’t be your lap dog
anymore. Get that new recruit of yours, what’s his name? Fido? To
do it for you.”

Valdez actually chuckles at this comment.
“His name is Filipe. And he can’t do it; you know how nervous
Chihuahuas are. He’d crap himself before he got near the mark.”

“I don’t care Valdez. I’m done.” I spit as I
turn back around and begin to walk away. My hips sashay causing the
holstered belt on my waist to jingle. I never leave home without my
pieces. I’d be dog food out here if I did. Respect or not, without
my guns, I’m nothing but a snack to the mutts in this city.

“Don’t be so hasty to leave Puss. I don’t
think you’d want this little one to grow up like you did.” Valdez
says with a laugh.

That stops me dead in my tracks. I turn
around quickly. My paws itching to grab the guns from their
holsters as I see Valdez dangle a very small kitten in the air. He
swings it around for emphasis and I cringe hoping he doesn’t drop
it.

A sigh leaves me causing my whiskers to
twitch. “What do you want done?”

“I knew you’d see things my way Puss...
That’s why you’ve lasted this long out here. You’re smart.” Valdez
praises.

“Just get on with it Valdez. The faster I
get it done, the faster I can leave.” I remind him.

“The museum the next town over has a new
exhibit. It’s some rare bone that’s supposed to grant whoever
possesses it riches beyond imagination.” Valdez explains.

“Why would I help you get a bone? Get one of
your lackeys to do it.” I counter.

Valdez shakes his head. “None of them are
agile enough. None of them can maneuver with the grace of one of
your particular race.”

“If I refuse?” I question arching a
brow.

“If you refuse, or fail in your mission,
then the fur ball here gets a one way trip through the back door of
the pound… If you get my drift.” Valdez states.

Paws to my hips, my midriff clad chest
heaves as I exhale. I cock my head to the right. “Why would you
think I care what happens to some kid that wandered where it
shouldn’t have?”

“I’m not stupid Puss. Beneath all that hard
tough girl exterior, you’re still the gentle kitten I swiped all
those years ago.” Valdez says as if he could possibly know anything
that goes on in my head.

However, this time, he’s pretty much on the
mark… Damn…

“Fine. I’ll get your stupid bone and then
I’m done.” I announce as I walk off toward my small house to plan
how I’ll do this.

It takes me three days to figure out exactly
how I want to do this. Valdez sends Filipe to me two days prior
with a blueprint for the museum, he wasn’t kidding. Filipe stands
half my height and was shaking so hard, I think for sure he is
having a seizure and is going to just fall out dead on my carpet.
His large brown eyes are watery, and his massive ears keep
flattening to his head every time he speaks.

“Meester Valdez say you need print of de
place. I bring for joo.” Filipe says in what can only be defined as
Spanglish.

I arch a brow and nod. Filipe produces a
large rolled up blueprint and hands it to me with a nervous
hand.

I unroll it and spend the rest of the day
pouring over it looking for the best way in and out. This is
definitely going to be a tough one.

Now that it’s the day of the heist, I’m
definitely having some reservations about doing this. I mean what
the hell? Why should I care about a fur ball Valdez got from god
only knows where? But I do care. And one of these days caring is
going to be the end of me.

With a sigh, I clad myself in black, from
the rubber soled slippers, which keep my steps silent yet still
maintain traction, to my one piece leather “uniform” that hugs my
body like a second skin, it even has a space for my tail that still
allows it to swish around normally. The last thing I put on it the
mask that covers my eyes and nose. The only orange pieces left are
my ears and some of my face. My paws I clad in rubber grip gloves,
these are not your everyday gloves. I flex my toes unsheathing my
claws, then open and flex the ole paws a couple of times getting
used to the feel. Slipping my holstered belt on, I’m ready to go.
Almost.

As I’m leaving I remember I’ll need to cut
glass. Rushing back into my house, I open the top drawer of my
nightstand and trip the lock on the hidden compartment. The top of
the drawer drops down revealing several different types of claw
extensions. I grab a diamond tipped one and slip it into my belt
with the other everyday use claw extensions I carry.
Now
I’m
ready to go.

I hear the train whistle while I’m still two
blocks from the train yard meaning it’s eight at night. This is the
last train for the night. I know if I miss this train I’ll be stuck
and the mission will be an epic fail. I see the smoke start to flow
in small billows from the train’s engine as it pulls out of its
bay. Muttering a string of curses, I scramble up the building I’m
standing by which happens to be Valdez’s deli which is nothing more
than a front for the weapons trading he does in the stock
rooms.