Enigma of the Soul - Book 1 - Pieces (3 page)

“It would be an honor to have the three Tuner kids in our new home. We just bought it last week, and it has more than enough room for everyone and everything. So please say, yes,” Zebedeo waits to hear the children reply.

Little Wendi looks up at her older brothers and sisters. She realizes that she might not see them ever again after the wedding.

“What will happen to Gale, Sara, Dave, and Joanne? What if I don't see or hear from them anymore? What if…”

“Wendi, don't worry about a thing. We will write to you every week for the rest of our lives, you can always keep in touch with us. Does that sound okay with you?” Sara scoops Wendi up into her arms and twirls her around in circles, making Wendi laugh and cry at the same time.

"Okay," Wendi says.

The next couple of hours are spent loading up the children belongings into the wagons and gathering the animals to be transported or sold at auction. Some of the town’s people take the time to bury Mr. and Mrs. Tuner and honor them by building a massive tombstone. On it was written.

Beloved by their children

Beloved by all

Beloved by God

May they rest in Peace

We will always miss you

Love Everyone

The workers that were caught in the flames were honored too. Their graves were combined with one large monument. Their names were carved into the stone with the words under their names.

The best men that anyone could have

One by one, the town’s people start to leave as dusk comes closer.

The first to leave are Frederick and Vartouhi with Gale, Sara, Dave, and Joanne sitting in the back of the wagon waving good-bye. Sara makes writing gestures at Wendi to reassure her that she will keep her promise.

Gale yells, “See you at the wedding.”

Dave and Joanne yell, “I love you. See you, guys at the wedding.”

Then their wagon becomes too hard to watch anymore as it rides off in to the night.

Last to leave are David, Markus, and Wendi sitting in the back of Marnina and Zebedeo's wagon watching their beloved home that they grew up in become a memory. Two ghosts appear at the end of their road waving good-bye to the three kids. One blows a kiss and the other just keeps on waving as they disappear. David stands up, waves good-bye to his home, his mom and dad, and the only life that he knew. David, Markus, and Wendi climb up to sit by Marnina and Zebedeo as they all head towards their new home and new life.

Thinking that he is in the clear, Dimitri tries to stand up. Dimitri forgets that his wrist is broken due to the adrenaline running through his veins. He rolls to his side and pushes up with both hands on the floor. Then the pain hits him again, this time it’s even stronger. Dimitri screams at the top of his lungs letting everyone in a block radius hear him. He falls back to the floor in a gigantic boom making the floor creak. Dimitri starts to weep as he thinks that he is going to die in this fire he set. The smoke of the fire below is getting worse by the second. Then Dimitri hears the sounds he dreaded to hear: creak, crack, and bang!

The sounds come from beneath him as the floor gives out. A hot, ash-filled, smoke surrounds Dimitri as he descends downward into the flame filling the dinning room. He lands on one of the chairs breaking it. The fall knocks the wind out of him. Coughing and gasping for air, Dimitri realizes that something is wrong. He feels his chest with his free hand, for the sharp pain. Dimitri’s hand hits the partially burnt chair leg that is lodged in his chest, driving itself straight through his lung. Blood creeps out around from the chair leg making him feel faint. He looks around to see if there is a way out of this blazing hellhole. A gust of wind comes through the dining room door to the hallway in from the back door to feed the fire. Dimitri realizes that he is just twelve feet way from freedom.

Dimitri thinks back to the day that his father James and his new stepmother Tegan told him about the day that they meet. James told him that he met a lovely young woman two days after he was born. Tegan nursed him because she lost her child two months before due to an unknown illness. Townspeople said that it was the work of Lucifer or one of his generals. When James crosses paths with Tegan, they knew that they had to help each other or they would die inside. James and Tegan married one month later and continued to be happy the rest of their lives.

Dimitri thinks to himself, ‘I will live. I’m not going to die in this house. I’ve got too much killing to do still. So get up and get out of here.’ Picking himself up off the floor Dimitri starts the longest journey that he will face in his life. With every step he takes he gets closer to freedom. The back door becomes brighter with the sun rays shooting through the opening, inviting him to walk through. Dimitri tries to take a deep breath of fresh air, but his body starts to shut down. He drops to his knees. Then to his broken wrist’s side Dimitri reaches out to the light of the sun to his freedom.

A cloaked shadowy figure appears in front of Dimitri, standing on the back steps, holding out it’s skeletal hand. Dimitri knew then that he had made a mistake for what he has just done. Thinking out loud Dimitri says, “What have I done? God, Please forgive me.”

“That is what we are going to find out,” the cloaked, shadowy figure says grasping Dimitri's hand.

“Where are we going? And who are you?” Dimitri asks, standing up not feeling any pain now.

“I am Death, better known as the Grim Reaper, and you're on my list of souls to collect,” Death replies.

“What do you mean? Am I dead?” Dimitri turns to look at where he was lying on the floor. His body lays contorted with his hand one inch away from the door jam. “Dear God, I was just one inch away from freedom.”

“A freedom that is just an illusion. A trick that is as old as the birth of man,” Death opens a dark portal to nowhere.

“Before we go through, I have but one question to ask you.” Dimitri asks.

“Yes, ask your question.” Death replies.

“Are you a woman?” Dimitri looks into the face of Death and sees nothing but a dark black hole.

“Yes, I am,” Death replies as she leads Dimitri through the dark portal to judgment.

David rolls off the porch's fire engulfed roof and onto the ashes covered ground, he rolls around to put out the fire that has attached to him. He tries to stand but becomes more of a stumble; to get away from the engulfed house. David topples over a log fence he and his brother built for a birthday present for his uncle two years back.

Hitting the ground butt first David thinks to himself, 'That was a terrible place to put that fence. That hurt like hell.’

David looks at the house. The demonic flames grip around the roof overhang like fingers and burst out of the doors and windows as the house crumbles. David lies there wondering if his brother and sister made it out of the house alive. He also wishes for the young man that murdered his aunt and uncle to die.

Lying on his back, he starts to pray. 'God, if you are out there, and you can hear this, I honestly could use some help right now. Please just send somebody, anybody, and make it fast because I think that I can't hold on much longer.’

Seconds later, David hears people yelling, and footsteps coming closer to him.

David's eyelids slowly close as he thinks, 'Thank you.'

He sees two figures standing over him reaching down to pick him up to take care of him.

David wakes up three days later in a foreign bed and house. Wrapped in bandages from head to toe, he finds it hard to move. He is propped up with a couple of pillows behind his back and head to help him breath better. Looking out the window, he sees a woman caring for a medium-sized garden. She is talking to a person that he cannot see nor hear due to the closed window. David hears a couple of people down stairs talking, but he cannot make out what they are saying. Feeling alone, he just lies there and thinks about what has happened in time that he has been asleep. A couple of hours pass and nobody comes up to check on him. David peers out the window again to see if anybody is in the garden but no one is there.

“I see that you have waken from your long slumber. How are you feeling today?” An old lady, standing at the bedroom’s door, smiles at him. He tries seeing her but cannot due to the door being perpendicular to him.

She walks closer to him to stand by his side and says “We are very lucky that we found you in time. You have been burnt over seventy percent of your body.”

“Who are you? Where am I?” David asks. He gets a good look at her face, but still does not recognize her or the house that he is in.

“I am your neighbor, Ms. HunManson, but you can call me Suezy. My husband and I have lived behind your aunt and uncle’s house for only for a couple of months now. We have wanted to introduce ourselves for all this time, but we tend to keep to ourselves more than often. Enough about us, tell me more about you. You have been asleep for three days now and your wounds have been healing well. I was just about to come upstairs to change your bandages when I heard your bed creak,” Suezy says as she covers him up.

“It’s been three days now!? What about the house? The huge fire? And…” David starts to feel light-headed. His eyes start to close.

“It’s okay. You made it out okay, but the bad guy died in the fire. Your aunt and uncle have had a proper burial. You can visit their graves when you get stronger; until then, you have to rest,” Suezy replies to ensure David that everything is fine.

“What about my sister Wendi and my younger brother Markus? Did you find their bodies?” the words slur out of David's mouth as he fights to stay awake.

“You have a sister? A brother? What happen at the house? Your aunt, uncle, and the bad guy’s body are the only ones that we had found. Maybe they were out of the house before it burnt down. Maybe they are searching for you?” Suezy tries to cheer David up and puts her hand across her open mouth as a tear rolls down her cheek. She checks David over then goes to talk with her husband about the discovery that she has just found out.

“Dear God, what happened that day? What happened?” The words slip from David’s mouth as the strength drains from him, making his eyes close as he drifts off to sleep.

As time passes, the wounds left by the dead are healing faster because of the preparations for Marnina and Zebedeo’s fall wedding are keeping everyone busy. This helps to relieve the stress of the brothers and sisters of the Turner family. Everyone is excited to reconnect with their loved ones after being separated for years. In that time, Wendi is almost nine years old and Markus is almost twelve years old. David is fifteen years old after having only a birthday a couple of months before.

It is now one week before the wedding. This wedding will join two families together thus making both families more stronger and even richer in the end. The Tuners that have had their fair share of ups and downs. This wedding will strengthen their family to become unstoppable.

As for the William family, this wedding will help them stop the unfortunate luck in its tracks. They have not had the best of luck during the last couple of centuries. Half of the family was killed for crimes that they did not commit because the crucial evidence was found after ten family members were brutally killed and the real criminals were caught. The William family has their hopes begging for love and peace.

“Zebedeo, darling, did you check on the food for our little wedding? I don't want it to be underfunded for the main dishes,” Marnina asks while she is making breakfast for everyone.

“Its already been taken care of. David, Markus, and I did all that two days ago. We also took care of all the decorations,” Zebedeo smiles at Marnina then reach for a biscuit.

“So everything is a go for this Saturday? There are no catches that we do not know of yet or that we have overlooked.”

“Don't you worry about a thing, my little flower. This is going to be the greatest day in your life,” Zebedeo takes a drink of his goat milk and smiles with a milk mustache.

Saturday morning comes with a surprise for the three little ones. “David, Markus, Wendi, it's time to wake up and get your breakfast.” Marnina yells from the kitchen.

Their sisters, brothers, Aunt Vartouhi, and Uncle Frederick are waiting in the kitchen. All the guest are having breakfast due to the long ride. Wendi is first to enter the kitchen as she rubs her eyes because it is so early.

Then she hears the faint voice of her favorite sister Sara, saying, “Now you can't be all that tried can you?” An enormous smile comes to Wendi's face and her arms go flying upwards to hug her older sister.

“Sara, I missed you so much. What have you been up to over the last week? You haven't written at all,” Wendi comments with a sad puppy dog face.

“Of course not, you silly little girl. I was saving the paper so I could tell you in person. I thought that would be much more exciting than a boring old piece of paper any day,” Sara starts tickling Wendi and everyone in the kitchen starts laughing.

Then David and Markus come stumbling into the kitchen and catch a glimpse of everyone standing looking back at them as they rub their eyes while trying to wake up.

“Good morning, sleepy heads. I'm glad that you guys could join us at this early hour. Please sit down and enjoy some breakfast with everyone.” Zebedeo says in a joking voice that gets everyone to break out in laughter.

“Aw, Zeb, the sun is not even up yet,” David says just before he takes a drink of milk. “And what is everyone doing here so soon? I thought that you guys weren't going to show up until this afternoon, right before the wedding.”

“Well, we took turns sleeping and driving the wagon to make it here sooner to spend more time with all of you,” Gale and Dave take turns saying as they are snacking on some muffins.

“It looks like all of you, including me and Vartouhi, have a lot of catching up to do. I think that it would be a good idea to take the rest of the morning working on the last of the wedding decorations. Then we can spend the down time before the wedding catching up while relaxing under that big oak tree in front of the house,” Frederick kisses his wife on her forehead. All of the adults leave the kids to talk at the table while eating their breakfast.

Everyone was laughing all the rest of the morning as they worked on setting up for the wedding. Gale and Dave had the help of the three little kids as they strung streamers made from colored fabric from tree to tree. Frederick and Zebedeo put out benches for the elderly to sit on right up front. Marnina and Vartouhi worked on preparations for dinner for the hundred or so people that could show up. Everything was going great for tonight's wedding.

Lunchtime came and everyone ate under the mighty oak tree. Smiles and laughter are combined with good food and delightful company. The time passes so quickly that people soon start to show up for the wedding.

“I think it's time for the bride to go and get ready for her big day,” Zebedeo points at his soon to be bride.

“And I think that it's time for the husband to get a move on, too,” Marnina points back at Zebedeo with a grin on her face.

Everyone sitting under the tree bursts out in laughter, which gets the attention of people showing up for the wedding. Marnina stands up, bows to everyone, and then heads to the house to change into her wedding dress. Zebedeo stumbles to his feet and then curtsies to make everyone laugh even harder. Frederick grabs Zebedeo and takes him to the back of the house to get him ready. All the kids get up to help the people showing up to get a seat on the brides or grooms side.

“Boy, this is starting to be a bigger turn out than we thought. I hope we have enough seats for everyone,” Gale says to Dave.

“Just think about it, this is one of the major things that are happening for a long time.” Dave nods his head at Gale to look at a young lady by a group of older people talking.

Gale smiles at the young lady, and she smiles back, “I think that I’m being summoned. So I must bid you farewell, my dear brother.”

Gale waves his hand in whirling gesture and walks away.

Joanne, Sara, and Wendi come up to Dave to tell him that it is time for the wedding to start and to start seating everyone. The four of them get everything in order, and the music starts to play.

One by one Frederick and Zebedeo stride to the front greeting people as they take their place next to Pastor Horus. The first of the wedding party to come down the aisle is Vartouhi, the maid of honor. Next is Markus carrying the rings tied together in a delicate lace bow. After him is Wendi, the flower girl, sprinkles rose petals as she skips up to the front smiling at everyone. Finally, Marnina turns the corner so that everyone can notice the radiant young lady that is about to say, I do. Her dress, a handmade nontraditional of imported plum purple for the fabric outer layer with royal blue middle inserts on the front skirt and a stripe down the middle of the back with blood red strips lining the edges of the dress. There is white sheer veil fabric covering the royal blue middle sections that match the veil draping her head from a single brass crown. As Marnina glides down the aisle on a cloud of air, she pretends that she was a princess. Zebedeo’s jaw drops as he gazes at his new bride. Frederick gently closes Zebedeo's jaw and tells him that he is such a child when it comes to Marnina. Marnina takes her place next to Zebedeo. The music stops to let the wedding begin.

Pastor Horus greets Marnina and Zebedeo as he goes into the opening prayer and then the definition of marriage. Marnina and Zebedeo exchange vows as they giggle and beam with happiness. They exchange their wedding rings that Frederick and Vartouhi bought for them as an early wedding gift. Vartouhi comes forward to read a poem dedicated to the bride and groom.

Pastor Horus tells everyone declaration of marriage and ends with “I now present to you Mr. and Mrs. Lardeo.”

Everyone seated stands up and starts clapping, cheering, and whistling for the new couple as they walk down the aisle together.

The party started right afterwards with the cutting of the cake and lots of dancing, singing, and food to be eaten. People took turns dancing with the bride and groom. Gale dances with the pretty young lady that he met earlier as Dave dances with one of her friends that she drug to the wedding. Sara meets a charming younger gentleman that sweeps her off her feet. Joanne sits in the corner with the rest of the children laughing and playing games when a stranger asks her for a dance. David, Markus, and Wendi are puzzled; why did Joanne leave with that stranger? They are all to young to understand true love and what it can do to people that are seeking it. Night comes and people leave saying good-bye and best wishes to the bride and groom. David, Markus, and Wendi all turn in for the night.

As night turns into day, the sun peeks through a couple of clouds greeting everyone that is still at the party. Zebedeo and Marnina announce to everyone that it is time to go home and thanks for everything. David, Markus, and Wendi wake up to watch people stumble down the road to town to go to their homes.

Zebedeo kisses Marnina’s hand, then her lips, and says to her, “I think that we could clean this up later.”

She replies “I think I hear the bed calling me to it.”

Dave, Gale, Joanne, and Sara are nowhere to be found. Frederick and Vartouhi tell Zebedeo and Marnina to go to bed, and they will clean up all the mess with the kid’s help. Zebedeo and Marnina thank them and head off to bed. Frederick, Vartouhi, David, Markus, and Wendi spend the rest of the morning and afternoon cleaning up from the wedding and reception. After this big event, their lives have gone back to the same uninteresting and tiresome pattern as the years pass.

Five years pass before David, Markus, and Wendi hear from their sisters and brothers since the wedding. They finally receive a long letter from all of their brothers and sisters one hot summer day. Dave wrote about each one of the brothers and sisters in a letter telling what has been happening to them.

Dear David, Markus, and Wendi,

How have you been doing? We all have been doing fantastic, and a lot has been happening in our lives. It all has been happening so fast that we all have not had much time to write back to you three. We are truly sorry that you have been keeping up on sending us updated information, and we have not. So here we go.

Gale has met a kind and generous young lady that has swept him off his feet. Do you remember the young lady that was at Zebedeo and Marnina wedding he could not stop dancing with? Well, this is that girl. Her name is Victoria, and they are going to be getting married May 5.

Sara is married now, but she is living a couple of towns away and is planning to visit you some day. She is working on a family of her own. Sara and her husband are trying to have a baby of their own. They live in a cozy little house not far from the Crimson River that runs a half-mile away from Bahitle town. They will be writing to you in the next couple of weeks to let you know when they will come to visit you.

Joanne has been dating a lot lately because she feels that she might become a lonely old woman if she does not find a partner. But if you ask me she should just let Mother Nature do her part. Joanne has been such a silly little thing this last couple of weeks that all I can do is to laugh at her for the entire crazy thing that she is doing to get a man. Other than that she is wonderful. She has a new job working at a local bakery making sweets, and she loves it. She doesn’t know it yet, but a regular customer has an immense crush on her. Sometime I think that she is just too dense to realize something good in front of her.

As for me, I am terrific. I have a family of my own and my own farm. I am keeping up the tradition that our father showed us when he first started farming. If you would like to visit, just let me know, and I will make the preparations. One last thing and then I’ll have to let you go. Congratulations! You are going to be aunts and uncles. My wife and I are proud parents of a new baby boy. His name is Thomas and he is two-weeks-old.

I hope everything is going well with you, too. You will always be in our hearts and dreams.

God bless,

Dave