Enigma of the Soul - Book 1 - Pieces (9 page)

“Your parents were right about the monsters that they told you to be scared of, they do exist, and they are me.”

Danny kills both of the children. After everything is said and done, Danny pats himself on the back for a job well done. He walks into the living room, sits down on the couch, and falls asleep.

In the late morning, Jack wakes up and finds himself covered in blood. Jack flips since he does not know where he is or what has happened Jack runs out of the house only to realize where he is.

'Dear God, I am at Sara and Jair’s home. What happened here?' Jack thinks to himself as he flees the property. As Jack runs through the woods he wonders, 'Who could have done such a horrible thing to those nice people?' Jack bursts out of the woods and into the backyard of an empty house.

'Nobodies around. Good. I'll be in and out in no time.'

The back door is unlocked, and the windows are wide open to let in the pleasant fresh air of the morning. Jack rushes to the sink, turns on the water, and tries to wash the dried blood off his body. His clothes are stained; blood sticks to his skin tainting it with shame. Washing his hair and face off in the sink, Jack begins to weep for the family that was killed. Jack stops cleaning for a second to see how he has done and notices a watery pool of blood underneath his feet. Jack sobs a little bit harder.

“Quit your blubbering, you baby. Am I going to have to take care of you all the time?” Danny says inside of Jack's head.

“You’re real. I thought that I was just dreaming about you.” Jack speaks out loud.

“Oh, I am so real for you. You created me a long time ago, remember? You needed a big brother since you never had one. I still have no idea why you are the way that you are due to your body size being not normal. However, I will tell you this. I enjoyed controlling your body last night for the first time. Well, what was I suppose to do? Let you wake up on the cool, damp ground again? Oh no, I am tired of sleeping on the ground. This time is going to be different. No more sleeping on the ground for me. So I decided that we needed a nice warm place to stay the night.”

“So you killed those people?”

“It is a small price to pay to lie your head down for the night.”

“Nobody’s life is a small price to pay,” Jack slams his fist down on the kitchen counter, making some of the bloody water splash all over.

Simultaneously, the owners of the house walk through the front door talking and laughing. Jack realizes that he has been at the house for too long. He must get out of the house before the family makes it to the kitchen. He looks around for another exit but quickly realizes that there is only one way out. That is the back door that he came in from.

He acts quickly and flies toward the back door only to hear a voice say. “Stop!”

Jack pauses for a second and turns toward the voices direction.

“Dear Lord, son, what happened to you? Are you alright?” Gale says.

'Play dumb,' Danny says in Jack's head.

“I, I, I don't know what happened. Please help me,” Jack replies.

“Please, sit down young lad and let me clean you up. Don't worry my brother is a doctor. I'll have one of my kids go fetch him. Is that okay with you?” Gale says to Jack as helps him into a chair.

“Jolie, go fetch your uncle and tell him to bring his bag,” Gale yells at her child. The child runs out the back door and off into the woods.

'Get out of here before that child comes back.' Danny says to Jack.

“I think that I'll be okay. Nothing seems to be hurting or bleeding. Please let me just rinse off and maybe have some old clothes that you don't want. Then I'll be on my way,” Jack tries to get up.

“Now you just sit right down, and we will take good care of you. Don't worry about clothes. You look about the same size as my husband.”

Gale yells for her husband to come into the kitchen where her and Jack are. A tall, slender man strolls into the kitchen as if everything in the world is great.

“What is it, darling? What does my lovely wife summon her great knight for?” Then Thomas eyes settle on Jack and the situation at hand. “What happened to you?”

“Get these people off our back before you get us in more trouble.” Danny says to Jack, as he gets angrier.

Jack's arm begins to twitch along with his left eye.

Jack thinks to himself, 'please, please, please not here, not these people also.'

“Gale and Thomas, please, you have to let me go. You have to let me walk out of here. Before, before...” Jack looks outside to see if their kid has made it back yet.

Thomas begins to mistrust Jack. He decides to start asking questions. Questions that may lead him down a dark path to a killer.

Jolie races through the back door with his hands covered in blood. His mouth tastes salty from the dried tears on his face. Thomas holds his son in his arms as Jolie tells his parents what he had found.

“Their dead. They are all dead, chopped into pieces as if they were animals sliced by a butcher. Their heads were on each of their dining room chairs as if they were sitting down to eat. Daddy, what kind of person could do this and just walk away?” Jolie begins to cry again in his father’s arms.

Before Gale and Thomas could ask Jack any questions, he is lying on the floor with his whole body twitching. Jack appears to be having a grand mal seizure. Gale steps back as Jack's body contorts this way and that. Then he stops. His body goes limp. Only breath moves his chest. Thomas signals to Gale not to touch him as she moves in closer.

Gale speaks, “Jack dear, are you alright?”

There is no response. Gale moves closer.

“Jack, can you hear me? Are you okay?”

Jacks head begins to move side to side. His lips move without sound. His hands tremble along with his legs and feet. Gale moves in closer. Jack's body inhales Gale’s lovely aroma.

“Jack are you okay?”

He replies “No Jack, only Danny, and me don't like you.”

That was the last breath that any of the Edward family took that day. Danny took the gleam from their eyes and replaced it with only hollow darkness. When Danny finished slaying the Edward family, he decided to sit down at the dining room table and eat a lovely meal he prepared for himself. He savors every bite like it was a meal that would be his last. Once he is done, Danny burns down the house and walks away cleaned up and wearing new clothes.

A day goes by before whispers of the two families deaths begin to circulate throughout the near by towns. David is strolling through a town that is close to his families' hometown as he tries to use his newfound powers as Alfonzo explains them to him.

“What kind of powers do I have now that I am apart of you?” David picks up an apple and signals to the merchant. The merchant holds up two fingers, and David throws him two coins. The merchant thanks David as he walks away.

“You have the power to bend light to make yourself invisible. In addition, fire will no longer hurt you. Fire is your friend now,” Alfonzo is sitting on David's shoulder, invisible to the naked eye.

“You mean I can control fire and make it do my bidding?” David starts to get excited as he walks towards an open flame.

“No. You can not control it, but what you can do is walk through it, sit in it, and play with it and never be hurt,” Alfonzo replies with a laugh.

David begins to get a little bit frustrated at being laughed at. Alfonzo realizes it and apologizes.

“Look over there; do you see that large barn fire? Walk over to it so that I may show you. There is one power that I don't really like to use,” Alfonzo says with a worrying tone.

David stands by the fire, his body begins to vanish blending into the fire itself. He walks into the middle of the towering flame and feels a warm but cold to touch. Flame dances on his skin.

“Is this what you feel all the time?” David asks as he waves his arms around.

“Fire is like water to me. I can swim or fly through fire,” Alfonzo prepares to show David a new power.

“Okay, now that you have been wowed, here is a power that I am not too fond of. Quiet your thoughts and listen with your mind. First, you will hear nothing. Then, you will hear chattering in the background. Last, you will hear people's thoughts as if they were your own,” Alfonzo slowly lets David listen to all people within a ten-foot radius of the large barn fire.

“This is incredible! Alfonzo, how long have you known how to do this? It makes me wonder, what else you are holding back?” David feels a hunger growing inside of him, as he wants more power to try out.

“Okay I am getting the hang of this. Can you let me listen to more people? Say about a fifty-foot radius?”

“Okay, but if you can't handle it I am going to have to back off.” Alfonzo turns up the power so David could hear further away.

Hearing people talk to each other was one thing, but being inside another person's head, listening to their thoughts was fantastic. Simply incredible. David stayed there listening to everyone's conversation and hearing their true thoughts about subjects opened his mind to a whole new level of existence.

David decides to wander around trying to use his new powers to focus in on people that are in buildings. Walking by people's houses listening to them argue, laugh, and worry. He hears people say, I love you, without speaking to the other person. He comes to an alleyway that seems to stretch to the ends of the town. David does not know what is calling him to go down this alleyway, but he must follow. He gets a sense of sadness half way down. Not knowing if he should proceed, David ventured deeper into the dark void of the alleyway. Finally, he stops; hearing after two older gentlemen talking on the other side of a wall with no windows. David does not understand why he has stopped at this certain location; he just stands there listening to these old men talk.

“Did you hear about those horrible killings a couple of towns over? The first family hacked apart as if a huge animal ripped into them for dinner. The second family was even worse than the first family. They were all tied up and tortured. The second family home was also turned upside down. Worst of all, someone or something tried to burn down the house to hide what it had done.”

“Why didn't the house burn down?”

“Because the things that it tried to burn were unburnable. They just smoldered. After that, the fire went out.”

“Did you ever hear the names of the people killed?”

“No, I sure didn't, but everyone is saying that these two families were related, and they lived very close to each other.”

David had a sinking feeling in his gut. He knew that he had to go check on his sisters and brothers. Something was not right. He had to trust his gut and check on them. David turns into a phoenix. David and Alfonzo fly off towards David's sister's and brother's homes.

Princesses Jazmin is sitting down to tea with her mother-in-law the queen, explaining how Jack was born and why it took two years to bear a child with her son, the future king.

“Jack, my secret son that only the prince and I knew of his existence. I tried to keep him hidden from everyone including the staff and the public because he is the child that came from the monster that raped me. In order to understand why I did this, you must understand the monster that is his father.”

“You mean the father is alive? You didn't have him killed? My dear what is to become of you when you become queen someday? You cannot take care of one little man? How are you to take care of a kingdom?”

“We did send thirty men to kill him, but only one man came back. He had no arms or legs. His mouth was sewn shut with a note nailed to his chest. The note read: Try this again and I'll come to kill you.” Princesses Jazmin replies wiping a tear away from her pale face.

“Please tell me how this all started. Tell me how you came to meet this horrible monster of a man,” The queen takes another sip.

“He was the king’s new grand wizard. This new wizard said his predecessor took a vacation and wouldn’t be back for a long time. I was in the courtyard one sunny afternoon, staring up at the clouds, when this new gentlemen came strolling up to me and said, 'Nice weather isn't it?' I just nodded my head and let him talk. After a couple of minutes,  he stopped talking and stared up at the clouds, too. Then he said, 'See that one right there it looks like a white rabbit.'” Princesses Jazmin smiles a little bit remembering how she felt looking up at the clouds.

“How old were you when you two decided to start dating each other?” The Queen smiles back at Jazmin.

“I was fifteen and he was twenty. At least I think that he was twenty years old, he may have lied to me like he lied about everything that he told me.”

“You say that everything about him was a lie?”

“Yes, but I did not find this out until it was too late. After what happened to me that awful wintry night, I can still feel his warm breath on my neck with the air cool to the touch,” A tear rolls down Jazmin's cheek.

“Tell me about dating this man.”

“It was like a dream that you wish could last forever and a day. We would play hide and go seek in the gardens. At night, we would lie in the grass in front of the castle looking up at the stars and talk. In the morning we would meet each other for breakfast and laugh about nothing and everything,” Jazmin peers out the window wishing for a different outcome to her life.

“But, if everything was great, why did you leave him?”

“There was only one time I saw the monster behind the charming young man. It was mid-February, and the snow was coming down heavy. The firewood was almost out in my bedroom. I had but a few logs left. I sent my best servants out to get some more, but they only came back with an armful each. One said that the other logs were still drying out due to the heavy snow. I thanked them and asked that the logs be put with the other ones by the fireplace. They happily did what I asked. That is when the monster showed its face to me. He looked at the little pile of wood they brought. His facial features changed from contentment to demonic. His tone was evil. Screaming at the servants on how they were inferior to me. They should have brought wagons full of wood. My servants tried to apologize, but he ignored them. They bowed to me and tried to leave, but he started to hit them over their heads. I leapt from my chair and pulled him away from them. I told the servants to run and then asked him, why he did that? He replied that I am a queen and should be treated as such. I was flattered. If this was a price I have to pay, I wanted it.” Jazmin knew what was coming up next as is she could peer into the future.

“I am curious why you keep calling him a monster?”

“One month later on a freezing March night. A blizzard came through the kingdom like a plague. The town’s people doubled up in their homes. They took firewood, supplies, and blankets to their neighbor’s homes trying to keep warm. They took turns sleeping so someone was up to watch the fire to stop it from go out. I was freezing and thought that I would pay my prince charming a visit. He has a special room, a room that was always the right temperature year-round, always comfortable and never cold. Arriving, I immediately pulled off my coat and heavier garments. It was so nice in there. He invited me to sit by him in front of the fireplace. I agreed, thinking that this might turn out to be the greatest day in my life. To spend it with the one I loved and all alone too. We were laughing and kissing. My conscience told me to stop. I told him to stop and that we should wait until our wedding day. He turned to me and spoke in that voice that he used on my servants. He said he would will take what he wanted when he wanted it and there was nothing that I or anyone else is could do about it. I replied that I would scream and have him arrested. He replied to go right ahead because only he could let me out of this room, and only he would hear me scream. He said that he loves it when the women scream. I tried to fight, but he was so much stronger. He enjoyed every minute while I cried, screamed, and tried to scratch him. After it was over, I just lay silently there in front of the fireplace. He got up, drank some wine, and laughed. Then he spit on me. I wished I never met him,” Jazmin cries as she tries to pull herself together.

“And this is how you became pregnant with Jack?” the queen hands Jazmin a cloth.

“Yes, it is. I promised myself that I would never speak of this monster again.”

“You have told your story. Now you must tell me what is the name of the person that did this horrible deed to you.”

“No, I will not!”

“Yes, you will.”

“No, I will not! There is nothing that you can do to make me say it.”

“I will give you one last chance then I will have you thrown in the dungeon for treason. Don’t think that I have not done this before.”

“His name is Devan Doyle Tzalmon.” Jazmin knows that her life may be in danger, but she has nowhere else to go.

“There, that wasn't so hard now was it?” the queen grins back at Jazmin. “So, after that, you quickly married my son and when little Jack came you told everyone that was a stillborn to hide him.”

“Yes, that is true. I wanted so badly to keep him, but I could not do it. I found a couple that lost a child and arranged for them to take Jack and claim him as their own. I gave them money to take good care of him and name me as his godmother. This allowed me to see him whenever I wanted,” Jazmin smiles a little bit as she thinks about her baby Jack.

“But things didn't work out that way now did they?”

“There is something different about little Jack. He was nothing like other kids. He grew quickly. His body would grow three years to every year. I believe that he has an unknown disease or that his father is truly so wicked it effected his own son with unknown conditions. You try having a child that is four-years old mentally but with the body of a twelve year old. Not very easy to explained everyone you see in the town market. Everything went south when Jack turned six. He had a body of an eighteen year old. He was old enough to know that he was different from everyone, including his stepparents. He asked only once who his real mother and father were. The stepparents and I were all sitting down to eat dinner. We did not have the guts to tell him that I was his true mother. I wish I told him immediately because he ran away to find his true parents that night,” Jazmin breaks down in tears. The queen walks over to comfort her.

“Dear God, what have I done?” Jazmin continues to cry.