Mike and Ashley’s House

Fawnskin, California

December 23, 2012

7:03 AM

I didn’t dream because of being scared of that mob, I might have been too afraid to dream of anything. I wondered if there were similar mobs in LA, or Temecula perhaps, but I knew my family was safe; nobody would dare ransack a winery. Scott and I slept soundly in Mike’s house with Sheriff McDermit—fresh from the hospital with minor bruises—back to guarding us from other crazy locals.

I realized how comfortable Mike’s couch was that night. It was as wide as a twin bed and with thick pillows so fluffy and comfy that I could get lost in plush.

As I slowly woke up to a familiar smell, I found myself sandwiched between two cushions with Scott acting as a living shield, there was no doubt that I was well protected. Our legs and tails were entangled, and I cooed and smiled as I saw that he was awake first.

“Morning,” he said with one hand propping his head up and the other over my back.

I yawned and returned the gesture, “Are you gonna protect me like this from now on, or making sure I don’t leave you?”

“Only if you want to.” He tucked some hair behind my ear; I noticed the morning sun was already out. “Did you have trouble sleeping?”

“A little. Kept thinking of the mob, but I still slept. What about you…” I trailed off when I smelled pan-fried bacon. My stomach growled, and I think Scott heard it.

“Had to wake up from time to time.” He came closer to me to whisper, his eyes looked really tired. “Had to make sure Ashley wasn’t looming over us with a skillet.” A smirk appeared on my mouth, but it went away after thinking about Ashley. That bacon was calling to me.

“I can hear you two sweet talking back there,” Mike called out, “If you two do it on my couch I will get sick.” A rush of embarrassment flushed through my face and Scott’s, and we repressed snickers. Staying there was not our plan, and we pushed off the blanket and stretched. I yelped when I felt my tail pop.

Yes, you heard me, our tails pop.

Last night I was too focused on Ashley, now that I had calmed down, I appreciated what they had done to their house. Mike said that when he bought it, it was a run-down mountain-themed vacation rental and everything had to be repaired. For Mike’s love of the mountains, he added on; antique snowshoes hung from the exposed banisters, there were handcrafted wooden walls and etchings over the frames, pine cones and polished rocks along the window shelves, and hand-me-down furniture from his family. The only modern changes were the kitchen, bathroom, and the addition of barstools.

In the corner was a simple six foot Christmas tree: traditional ornaments with an angel on top, and a few labeled boxes with their names on them. A Frank Sinatra Christmas song would have been a nice touch.

The view–wow. Windows lined the whole living room, and gave us a partial view of the lake, neighboring houses, a gorgeous clear blue sky, and the sun peeking through the snow-covered pine trees. Even the crystals littering the landscape soaked up the sun’s rays and casted surreal purple shadows.

“I’ve always thought where you live is a temporary winter wonderland,” I said as I adjusted my wrinkled shirt.

“You should’ve been here during the winter of 2010, unforgiving it was. Almost caved in the roof.” Mike turned over the sizzling bacon. We weren’t in that storm, Mom had made us stay at the winery.

“And the sheriff is still out there. You think he’d be cold as an icicle,” Scott said looking out at McDermit still parked and sitting outside drinking coffee.

Mike set the cooked bacon onto a plate and finished the scrambled eggs. “He’s been out there since last night. We’ve been talking on and off… oh I almost forgot. The roads opened about an hour ago. The majority of flatlanders left already from Phil’s knowledge.”

“Cool, that’s just what I needed for the morning.” I almost felt like jumping for joy. It was quite possibly the greatest news ever for us. Finally, we could go home and stay there until we were safe to venture out.

Scott let out a worried sigh and rubbed his head, “What did Phil say about the apartment? Will he ding us for that?”

Mike faced us, “Not sure what he’ll do. Might as well have that godfather of yours talk him out of it.” Scott started chuckling.

If that be the case, we’d just have to thank him with a case of wine. His partners never complain about the generosity, but a little part of me thought that the sheriff would question us for a while.

Arana sat on the bar and atop my spellbook, reading its pages. She said ‘morning’ to us as we sat down in on the barstools, I ran my finger over Arana’s chest, I think she liked it. “Were you up all night?”

Arana nodded, “Indeed, and very exhausted,” she said and closed the book. “Supposedly there’s still no explanation to my death. Sorry if I didn’t find it.”

“Don’t be, we’ll find the reason,” I assured her.

“But I found a spell for this book to re-enter your body without my help.”

“Wait, wait, give me a second,” Scott picked up paper and a pen. “Gotta start somewhere to learn Gaelic.” I told him its good to start fast; he wanted to learn how to control his magic after his experience last night.

As Mike finished up breakfast, Arana explained to us that to send our personal spellbooks books back into us, we must needed to place our hands on the cover, focus without feeling the mana, and speak filleadh aloud. I did and the book shimmered into blue light and was absorbed back into me, to bring it back out, speak tar amach. God I love magic, even my magick language is awesome. Scott wrote everything down and saved it so that when we got home he could practice with me. How sweet.

Oh I nearly forgot about Keeji, he slept the whole night under Ashley’s rocker. He was excited when he heard us talking and banged his head on the chair. He came over to us whimpering and Scott rubbed his head. Mom would love him, I just knew it.

“Anyway, dig in, this is the last time I’ll see you guys in a while,” Mike said handing us our breakfast. He had his own breakfast of oatmeal and bananas. I looked at my plate and felt like one lucky girl.

He made the basic of basics: scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, hot coffee, and fruit from the bowl of fresh fruit that he kept out atop the bar. Scott and I were delighted to have a good meal and we were munched enthusiastically. The eggs were fluffy, the bacon was crisp, and the coffee was smooth. In fact, the coffee tasted great, Mike said it was locally roasted down the hill. I could see that terran-enhanced taste buds would play a role back home.

The totems had bites of food, just out of curiosity. Keeji ate a piece of toast and Arana nibbled on my eggs. They liked it on account that it was the first thing they had ever eaten, and with that, they didn’t go any further. Totems don’t eat for energy, it’s a good thing too, they could run the earth’s food supply dry.

I was so into my meal that when Scott tapped me on my shoulder. Looking up, I stopped chewing and my jaw dropped with food still inside. I had to swallow to not be rude. No, it wasn’t Keeji choking, it was Ashley, outside, looking at us.

She didn’t carry a skillet, or a baseball bat, or a gun. Both of her hands were in her hoodie’s pockets. She looked the same as the night before, but I suspected that she’d changed internally, hoping the dose of reality helped. If not, then it would all be over between us.

As she tried to talk, she pinched her cross pendant, either for support or guidance. We never didn’t speak, not even Mike. Keeji saw her, whimpered like a coward and hid behind Scott. I chair-walked beside Scott as to not squish Keeji’s tail.

Ashley opened her mouth, closed it hesitantly, and then said with the flattest voice, “Uh… morning,” without a smile, as if she was afraid of being ridiculed.

There was another uncomfortable pause.

“You okay?” Mike asked, “It’s okay, honey, they won’t hurt you. Look if you don’t want to do what we discussed, that’s fine.”

“No, no Mike I… I can do it.” Those were the first non-threatening words she had said in a while and it made my jaw drop more. She paused again, anticipation hung in the air.

“Well?” Mike leaned on the kitchen counter. “Are you?”

Her eyes stayed on me, Scott, and the totems, she didn’t even glance at Mike. Poor woman. She went straight for the kitchen cupboard, grabbed a glass, and filled it with water from the sink. She drank it all in one gulp, then stared back at us, her eyes definitely showed that she had changed.

“Lately,” she started, “I-I’ve been… not myself. I thought I was thinking logically, that what I saw was the comings of the Rapture. The asteroid. The animals, like them.” Arana huffed and turned her back on Ashley. “And even… even you two. From the news I watched, I certainly believed it was a demon possession. It all fit with all those… those, lightning orbs from the crystals.”

“Ashley we’ve been through this before, those geriatric eggheads have no solid proof on that claim. The terrans are not devils in disguise,” Mike explained.

“I still think it,” Ashley shook her head. “That doesn’t mean it’s not totally out of me.” She turned back to us, “I was also afraid of becoming like you two. Being shunned by my friends, my family, my husband. I had panic attacks, and once feared of one breaking in and… and…” I knew what she was trying to say, and I felt bad for her even more.

“Then I overheard your talk last night, about Tom. I hated him too. Just look at what he does to tourists. Deep down, my mind saw him as an activist to spread the truth. But what you guys said, and from Mike, I know now that he just wants to hurt my friends, both normal and… terran.” She said terran like it was a disease.

Scott broke our silence with by raising his hand, “Hold it, I want to cut this short because I think you’re having trouble apologizing. Am I right?”

Ashley winced. Scott wanted this to move quicker and I didn’t blame him. She paused, and then nodded.

“Then say it. I want to know if you accept this.” His tail went up and flicked the air.

For some reason I was feeling a nasty fight coming on, I drank all my coffee to settle my nerves.

Ashley bit her lip, whined a little, and said, “Please forgive me. I’m sorry for bashing you.” Then, from the corner of her eye, a tear formed, and she sniffled. That took a lot out of her. I don’t know if she had ever asked for forgiveness, she either dealt with it or didn’t. Somewhere in her talking, I thought that it wasn’t directed to us, but to me.

I folded my arms and leaned forward on the table. “Ashley, before I say what you want me to say what you did really hurt us. Maybe you knew this, but we’re all on the same boat for this transformation, but that doesn’t mean you have to segregate us in the middle of a hurricane for frivolous reasons.” I was proud of my myself, even Scott and Arana kept quiet and didn’t interject. I got up and walked over to Ashley, “But since you believe what you said was wrong and hurtful…” She didn’t back up and I touched her hands with a soft motion, to show her that I wouldn’t hurt her.

I smiled, ”I forgive you.”

It was enough to make her smile again, the first one since the change. We hugged, I had to let her feel the plates along my back and felt her shudder at how creepy it was. I backed off to let Mike hug her harder, and he gave her a peck on the cheek. I heard him whisper, “I’m proud of you.”

Watching it, I knew that the deed was done. Mom and Dad knew that we we’re okay, Ashley was accepting the world’s fate, and I felt at peace. I ignored Scott’s phone ringing to savor the moment, but I yelped when he cursed at the caller. Something wasn’t right.

I yahooed internally for Ashley’s change of mind. I had been betting it was all going to blow up in our faces. My phone rang and recognized Deryl’s number, I had to answer, but my eardrum nearly blew out from Deryl’s high-pitched screaming. His words were all jumbled like he was out of breath from a run.

“Dammit, Deryl, don’t do that. What are you screaming about?” I asked him. If I didn’t have my coffee, I would’ve been irritated by him.

“Get the hell to cover, Scott!” His shouting was so loud it almost blew his cell phone’s microphone, “You and Katie are in big trouble. They’re heading over right now!”

“Wait? Who’s heading over? If this is about the accident at the apartment, I can explain.” I walked off so I wouldn’t get any verbal interference from Mike and the girls.

“No, no, not that. I’m talking about scores of agents hunting people like you!” With my heightened hearing, I could hear huge amounts of commotion from the cell’s background. There were muffled howls, then flat out clear words that they were trying to deny someone’s entry. I asked him what’s happening.

“That’s it, Scott. We have a couple of terrans in custody and they are demanding to have them. God, kid, have you heard the news lately?”

“No, we just woke up,” I told him. I signaled Mike to turn on the television with the remote on the coffee table. He switched it to CNN on a pre-recorded press conference at the White House. “Deryl, what did they say?”

“Scott, it’s sick, it’s unconstitutional. They…” Gunshots rang out and people screamed on the other end. Deryl yelled as more gunshots rang. “Take them out!” It was the last thing I heard of him as the phone disconnected.

“Deryl? Deryl!?” Katie looked at me curious of my shocked expression. She might’ve heard Deryl yell. I thought of the worse of Deryl, but I know he’s a Marshal and Marine; he can take down the shooters without breaking a sweat. The terrans freeing themselves, or the ones taking them away.

“Something’s wrong guys. I think people lost it.”

“Hey Mike,” Ashley said standing near the windows, “who’s the guy in black talking to the sheriff? Don’t believe it’s one of the neighbors.”

“Wait, guy in black?” A sickening feeling overwhelmed me. If she was saying what I assumed she was, then our escape plan was gone. All five of us went to the window. The plowed driveway with the truck holding our stuff was still there. McDermit was still at the end of the driveway guarding our exit. He was outside near his car talking to a guy in black, the same dude that had hung out in front of our apartment, and a blond girl in black, standing there silent. I can still remember that menacing smirk of his.

“What the hell is he doing here?” Katie asked.

“So is that the guy you talked about?” Mike asked.

“Definitely, that’s the guy and girl from yesterday and last night. God, I don’t feel right about this.” They were talking, asking the sheriff questions, possibly about why he was there. McDermit seemed uninterested and told him to leave.

I looked at the television as CNN announced the Secretary of Defense approaching the pressroom’s signature podium. Why did he come instead of the president? “Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, I have an important and immediate announcement regarding the recent catastrophe that shook our planet’s status quo.”

Turning back to the window, the man and woman waved at the sheriff and walked off to a black SUV parked across the street. Keeji growled and his breath fogged up the window; I felt my heart sink from the look in the agent’s eyes. My suspicions were correct. The blond agent, as fast as a kung fu master, whipped out her side arm, and shot McDermit in the head several times. The white patrol car got a large coat of red paint as the former sheriff’s body fell out of sight.

Everybody in the house screamed bloody murder.

“…the asteroid has made a horrible dent to our world, including the sudden attack of those orbs infecting every human on the face of the planet. You might’ve noticed the saved surveillance videos on YouTube during the coma hour. As the Pentagon got word of Asteroid Helen’s true intentions, Congress had to take measures to…”

Black SUVs and a single white truck came roaring up the street. Soldiers wearing gas masks and grasping guns barged out of the cars and sprinted toward the house. Some stayed behind for cover, others went full assault on us and the neighbors.

“RUN!” I screamed. We tried running to safety, Arana knocked over the Christmas tree, and Mike took a bad fall and crashed down onto the wooden coffee table, crushing two of its legs.

“…regiments oversees witnessed the same fate and have already taken action. Our very own soldiers in our military are transforming at an alarming rate and have become a threat to our national security. The president is too preoccupied to address the nation as he is protected at a secure bunker so I’m permitted to announce the agreement Congress settled.”

“Shit, Mike, you okay?” I ducked down in case they started firing bullets through the windows.

“Ah, my neck, I think it’s broken,” he said grimacing, “leave me, Scott. Take care of Katie.”

“To hell I won’t leave you.”

“…each plan was scrutinized between both parties, and yet, only one solution was picked for the growing number of transformed. Most of our neighboring countries have already adopted a similar plan…”

Every window shattered from explosions, making all of us duck to the floor from flying shards of glass. A couple of canisters fell on the couch and floor and started spewing while smoke. I inhaled some of it and was already felt woozy. Mike crawled out of the debris as Ashley came to his aid, to beg him to get up and run. Katie tried to charge her mana but stopped completely as a large black bag slammed into her chest and she fell backwards, grunting and gripping her stomach.

I tried to imitate my first spell, feeling the same mana charging tingles. Suddenly my muscles felt weak and the tingle grew to pain. Clearly my nerves were shot from the gas.

The noxious white smoke filled the living room. I started coughing loud and hard, having trouble breathing and staying awake. Tears covered my eyes from the stinging smoke, but I still managed to see black figures breaking down the front door and barging inside. One said to secure the freaks and talking animals, and take out the witnesses.

Katie coughed on the smoke and fell asleep instantly near the fireplace. Two soldiers approached the weak totems, shoved a taser to paralyze them further, then stuffed them into separate body bags.

My last glimpse of life was the television.

“…and that is why, effective immediately…” The secretary paused, briefly, then flinched, “We are issuing a countrywide containment of all tattoo-bearing citizens and transformed. They will be transported to housing facilities for studies until we compile a complete explanation of this phenomenon and the foundation of a cure.” The press erupted in protest as he stepped down. It cut to reports of intense violence in major cities.

I know the guy, I thought, he never flinches. Unless…

The menacing agent’s foot hurled at my stomach and I went out cold.