The Savior Rises (16 page)

“Stefani, wake up, sweetie. Stefani, you have to get up, honey. It’s time to take your medicine. Stefani, honey, it’s time to get up.”

Staci kept prodding Stefani until she finally opened her eyes. It was too bright. The sun shone through the window like a heat-seeking missile headed directly to her eyes.

“Stefani, can you sit up, sweetie? You need to take these pills, and then you can lie back down for a while. The Price is Right will be on soon. You know how much you love that Drew Carey.”

Stefani sat up and opened her mouth as instructed, graciously swallowing the water as it swirled around her throat, launching the pills like several little life rafts. The pills did make her feel better. She wasn’t sure what they were, but now she didn’t even care. As long as everything went away, that was all that mattered.

“You did a good job, Stefani,”  Staci said. “I’ll be back in 30 minutes or so to take you to the TV room. Would you like to eat breakfast first or watch TV? They’re having the little pancakes. You love the silver dollar pancakes.

“Ok, you sit and think about it, and we can decide when I come back. We’re in no rush. You have all day,” Staci chuckled the last line as she closed the door, locking it behind her.

Stefani did have all day. That was the truth. Honestly, that girl would probably be a resident here until she died. Staci wondered how a distorted, depressed girl like this was ever related to a man like Greg. He was an amazing chap.

Stefani lay in her bed, waiting for the room to spin. She wanted the room to begin its circular track. She hated the feeling in the beginning, but now it seemed as good an escape as any other. What did it matter really? Nothing mattered.

“Stefani!”

She heard her name, but she didn’t see anyone in the room. Was she now hearing voices? Jesus, after her life, hearing voices was probably a step up. The things she imagined she saw or did she see them? Who knew what was real, though?

“Hahahahahahahahaha,” she laughed out loud. How could she have ever seen wild dogs or gargoyles? She must be answering her own question. She definitely was crazy. Oh, my God, did she actually ask herself the question?

The room was finally starting to spin. It had little trails of light as it circled around the ceiling. She wondered why it always moved in the same direction. It was always clockwise. Round and round, it just kept going. It was beautiful.

“Stefani!”

“Christ, who’s saying that? Come out, come out wherever you are,” she laughed again. Then, she heard a metal key chain rattling. Somebody was having a hard time getting the lock to work.

The door opened a few minutes later. It had sounded like somebody had tried several times before finding the correct one. What is it with these new people? Jesus, she was talking like she had been here for years. The only people she really dealt with were her roommates, or whatever they were.

“Honey, I’ve missed you.”

When Stefani saw the face, she couldn’t help it. She burst out crying. Tears flowed faster than the saliva fell from her useless lips.

“Mommy? Is that you, Mommy? Why are you here? Where have you been? Mommy, can you help me? Please, help me, mommy! They’re trying to hurt me. He hurts me all the time. Please make it stop, please. Can you please stop him from hurting me, Mommy?” Stefani lost all control at this point.

“You have to listen to me, Stefani. Please, just listen. They’re playing tricks on you. They have been for years. They’re trying to break you. You can’t let them break you. Please, no matter what, you have to stay strong…”

“Mommy!” Stefani screamed one last time as the door opened again. Greg stood before her.

“I was pretty clear about your not coming into this room, Jade. You just can’t seem to listen now, can you? You understand what that means right?”

“I’m sorry, Greg. I messed up. Please don’t…”

Jade was never able to finish the sentence. A knife appeared in Greg’s hand; and before she was able to say another word, he casually drove it into her stomach.

Jade stood there, looking at Greg. Then, she turned her head to Stefani. She dropped to her knees as her pants became wet with the blood quickly soaking them through. She tried to say something as her hand reached in Stefani’s direction, but no words came out. She fell face-forward onto the floor, bouncing a couple of times before her body came to a final rest.

This was the second time in her life Stefani had seen her mother die. A child should never be in a situation to see their parent get murdered once, let alone twice. It’s just not natural.

“Mom!” she screamed. “Please, mom, not again. I can’t take it. I can’t take it again. You can’t die again.”

She couldn’t stop screaming as the tears poured out of her eyes.

Staci appeared in the doorway with a wheelchair and quickly strapped Stefani inside. She felt like a vegetable. What was to be gained from all of this? How could any of this matter? Where was her Raggedy Ann doll? Was it sitting in the bay, floating on the water, where Stefani should be, as well?

Nobody looked at her when they wheeled her to the TV room, stopping her in the same spot she’d sat in yesterday or the day before that. What was the last day she’d been here? This was only the second time she’d been in this room; she didn’t care what any of them said. Jesus, how many times did her mother have to die? How can any of this make sense?

She stared straight ahead, watching The Price is Right with Drew Carey.

“DREW, MORON, CAREY PEOPLE!” she screamed as loud as she could. Still nobody would look at her. It was almost like they were all scared of her.
They should all be afraid of me,
she thought. She would kill all of these people. They would all be dead at some point. Why not now? Their worthless, pathetic existence was a blip on the timeline of life.

“Be careful,” the guy sitting next to her said. “Remember, most of these people haven’t done you any harm. They’re victims in this just as you are. Be careful who you hate.”

“And who are you, shit for brains?” Spit flew from her mouth as she formed the words.  

“Please, don’t look at me when you speak. They’re watching you. I’m nobody to them. But you, they watch you all the time. Your precious doll has always been a tool for them. It held the ring. They knew it held the ring. All of this has been a game. It’s all been a trick to get you to do what they want. It’s you they need. Not some stupid ring. You are the ring.”

“Oh, my God, do you really think I even give a shit anymore? I have no idea what’s going on. I’m done. Ring, no ring, I could care less. Let them have the worthless ring!”

Stefani ripped the necklace from around her neck and threw it at the TV. Drew Carey almost looked like he ducked as it ricocheted back towards her feet. It seemed as though it were fighting to come home.

The room was eerily silent for a minute. Nobody talked, nobody moved. Everyone was frozen in place as the round heirloom came to rest nearly splitting the distance between Stefani and the TV. Everyone just stared. It rolled to a stop, after spinning in circles for a few seconds, and then the place erupted.

At least 50 percent of the residents changed into gargoyles. Some transformations happened quicker than others, but everyone who could change did so. The staff was the first to completely turn. Once they had transformed, they all went after the ring.

The guy sitting next to her had changed, as well. He grabbed the ring first and threw it back in Stefani’s direction.

“Put it back on, for Christ’s sake, NOW!” he screamed as the guard closest to him launched his body like a rocket at her neighbor’s head.

They collided and crashed into the TV, smashing the front screen into hundreds of tiny glass particles. Another guard also flung himself in the same direction and the three of them began pummeling each other with their fists. It didn’t seem like anyone was on any side.

Stefani turned her head and looked around at the ensuing brawl. Everyone was fighting everyone. Anyone who could stand up and throw a punch fought whoever happened to be standing next to them. Suddenly, a room full of patients in wheel chairs had turned into a testosterone-laden battleground.

Stefani tried to stand, but she landed on the ground in a heap of arms and legs on her first attempt. Her next try found her using the chair next to her as a crutch, as her appendages gained strength. It somehow felt like somebody injected her with energy. The ring glowed around her neck, infusing her with strength.

The sword flew over her head an instant too late as she ducked. She hit her would-be assailant in the gut, knocking the air out of him. Her muscles found their strength in the nick of time. The sword clattered to the ground; and as she rolled over top of it, she picked it up and thrust it forward into the gargoyle’s back.

“Too bad for you I’m pissed off today, buddy. I was actually beginning to like The Price is Right, and you guys have now screwed that up for me.”

She hadn’t finished her sentence before she whirled around, lopped his head off, and watched it roll across the floor.

It landed at the foot of her neighbor who wasn’t fairing as well as she was. One of the guard gargoyles held his grey, leathery arms while another one beat him in the face. Right, then left, then left, left, right. It was like some kind of boxing sequence gone mad.

“Hey, Mike Tyson!” she yelled as she arched the sword in a semi-circle, slicing it through his neck. Then, she stabbed him in the back, piercing all the way through to his waiting heart.

“Buddy, let my friend go or you’ll go down just like Chomper here.”

What would Mr. Tyson do with these massive pointy ears?
she thought.
It would be like Christmas for him.

The second guard threw her neighbor at her like a tinker toy. She easily side-stepped, lifting her sword as she did. She brought it down with all of her strength, splitting the gargoyle’s head in half.

“WOW, now we didn’t manage to cut it off, but two heads are definitely not prettier than one.”

She laughed as she pierced her sword through his chest, doing the same to his quickly fading organ.

“Bruiser, should we head out,” Stefani said.

“Daniel is my name; and yes, let’s vacate.”

He grabbed her around her waist and stretched his wings, flying through the windows overlooking the parking lot. He flew straight up into the clouds. They were only a few minutes from being free when the shots went off.

“Shit, you just can’t buy love these days, can you?” Greg asked as he raised the shotgun to his shoulder and fired again. He only used silver buckshot for ammunition. Gargoyles did hate silver with a passion. That was one of the legends that was true.

Both shots had found their way home, and Daniel plummeted back to the ground at 10 times the speed he had elevated. He lost his grip on Stefani, and she fell a few feet away from him, head first, directly into a grove of trees.

They both went through limbs, knocking off branches. The trunk of one tree impaled Daniel’s stomach as he rolled to a stop.

Stefani fared much better, but her left arm was completely turned backwards. It looked more like a pretzel than it did the appendage of a human being. She ran over to Daniel, crying as she moved. She cradled his head in her arm as he did his best to speak.

“Pull the tree out of my stomach. Hurry, they’ll be here quickly. We must heal as much as we can before they arrive.”

Heal,
she thought. They were lucky not to be dead.

As the thoughts formed in her mind, she could already see her left arm moving on its own, notching itself back in place.

“What the, now that is some cool stuff,” she said as she ripped the tree limb out of Daniel’s stomach.

He screamed in protest and fell back to the ground, his arms flailing. But they had nothing to hold onto.

“Do you see the sword?” he gasped. “Find the sword, you’ll need it. The ring is allowing you to heal quickly. Find the sword, and we might live.”

She saw it like a beacon of hope, a few rows of trees away and sprinted for it, watching her left arm begin to function again as she ran.

 “This gargoyle stuff definitely has some advantages,” she said as one of them flew from the sky above and almost knocked her from her feet.

“And some disadvantages,” she added as she jumped the remaining distance, grabbed the sword, rolled on her side, and landed upright.

Two more now stood behind her, making a total of three, as they all charged at once.

“Let’s dance, boys,” she chuckled as she dropped to her left. She dodged the first one, rolled up underneath him, and sliced open his stomach as she did so.

“Jesus, dude, what did you have for breakfast? It really stinks.”

She flipped in the air and brought her sword down, slicing through the head of another gargoyle who had only been a couple of feet away from her. But the third one managed to grab her hair, yanking her back to the ground.

Whipping her sword around, she sliced through his arm, leaving it dangling down the back of her neck as his fingers held a death grip to her frazzled mane.
I really do need a good conditioning,
she thought. As she twisted back in the other direction, she waved her sword, slicing through her handless foe’s neck. She turned her sword around and drove it straight back into his heart.

The other gargoyle ran for the road as his third gutted friend rolled around on the ground.

“Nothing like an omelet and some silver dollar pancakes, huh? I never did get my breakfast, you piece of shit.”

And with that, she brought her sword down, severing his head, as well.

Daniel stood. The hole in his stomach was almost closed, but he’d lost a lot of blood.

“The parking lot is that direction. Let’s find a car. It will be a while before I can fly,” he said.

They both ran toward the hopeful escape, and once there, Stefani grabbed a lady by her throat and lifted her two feet in the air with one hand.

“May I have your keys, please, so I may borrow your automobile, ma’am?” she asked. The lady pointed her finger to a fallen purse on the ground.