The Centerpoint Trilogy (10 page)

              “Oh trust me,” Anna said softly. “You will here.”

              The rest of her day was without anything that wasn’t utterly mundane. Anna had a lot of grunt work to do and it was just tedious, but it did allow her mind to be elsewhere. The hours seemed to really tick by and she was glad, because all she wanted to do was get home to the husband and daughter who needed her. She smiled idly and went through every detail of the monotony.

              By the time her day was done, she hurried as quickly home as she could manage. The home where she lived with Ethan and Genesis was very small, nothing too special, but she found it to be truly wonderful. It was in the middle of a small suburb, white and trimmed with blue. It wasn’t anything glamorous, but for a young couple and their five year old daughter, it was a welcome sight. Anna pulled up her car in front of the building and then she sighed. Something hit her.

The thing that hit her was fear itself. It took hold of her heart, it’s icy fingers clenching around that one vital organ. Why was she so afraid? That was not right.  What she was feeling in her heart was far from the usual comfort that her home provided. No, hat she was feeling at that moment was a profound fear.

              She got out of the car and took a deep breath. She could not, as much as she tried, shake the fear that was deep inside of her. Like dreams, Anna knew very well that instinct was important. Her instinct was telling her that something was wrong. She rushed to the door and her hands shook. She fumbled with the keys, scared. Something made her feel very, very afraid. She was terrified.

Finally, she got the door open. Her fingers were shaking and she missed the keyhole several times, but eventually the key twisted and the door swung open with a loud creak. It was loud in her ears, at least. She sighed with relief and rushed inside. “Ethan?” she called as she looked inside. The house was dark and the dimming sun was giving very little light. “Ethan?” she asked. “Genesis?” She was honestly terrified. She looked all throughout the house. She flung open doors and looked in and out, frowning. Where were her family? She was terrified.

              Trying to be calm and at least a little rational, she fished her cellphone out of her purse. She hit the speed dial for Alicia. Maybe she was just being stupid. Genesis and Rhiannon liked to play. Maybe Ethan and Alicia had been chatting while their daughters finished whatever flight of fancy had taken them this time. She waited and listened to the phone ring.

              It rang, it rang, it rang. It did not stop ringing until Alicia’s voicemail picked up.

              “Hey, you’ve reached Alicia. Please leave a message.”

              That made her scream in frustration. She screamed out, a low but intent sound, that she had to restrain and rain back in.  She set down her cell phone. She didn’t care if she was being irrational. She got into her car and then started off towards the small apartment where Alicia lived with her eight year old daughter Rhiannon.

              The drive should have took fifteen minutes, but she was there in eight. Anna flung her car door open and then shut it behind her with a slam. She rushed up the staircase that led to Alicia’s apartment. She then went back to her purse and retrieved the key. Alicia had given her a spare key several years earlier. Strange circumstances had led the two women to become something even stronger than best friends. Anna loved Alicia with all her heart. The woman was a sister to her. There was no other relationship like theirs. Alicia was her best friend ever.

              “Ali?” she called as she opened the apartment door. Unlike her own home, lights were on. Anna could even hear the faint thrum of the television set. “Alicia?” She was a little, no a lot, terrified. She stepped forward and shut the door.

              Her feet were wet.

              Anna looked to see that the carpet below her feet was soaked through. It was completely saturated by liquid. She did not see a source as she immediately began to scour the apartment. There were few signs of anyone and it seemed as though there was no source to the floor. It seemed that the house had merely been filled with water out of it’s own accord. The water was low to the carpet but the wallpaper was soaked too. She frowned at this. That was when she saw Ethan and Alicia.

              “Ethan! Alicia!”

              The pair were lying on the floor of the living room. Neither of them were moving. Alicia was near the sofa and Ethan was slumped against the television set. Both of them were flat on their backs, their eyes closed. Their bodies were stiff, motionless and as rigid as a wooden plank might be. Ethan was slightly propped up by the television set, but Alicia had fallen straight down onto her front. Her first instinct was to scream, thinking them dead. “Ethan! Ali!” she shrieked as she dove down next to her husband first. She reached for his throat and immediately detected a pulse. “Ethan, wake up!” she yelled, lightly slapping the man in the cheek.

              She then crawled on her knees over to Alicia. “Ali, baby, please, wake up.” Alicia was definitely alive too, thank god. Alicia actually came to first, her eyelashes fluttering. “Sweetie?” she asked softly. “Anna sweetie?” She sat up, slowly, with Anna’s help. Ethan too started to wake up, eyes getting wide when he finally realized where he was. He shook his head and turned it from side to side. He was confused. He looked so confused.

              “Anna, what happened?” Ethan asked. He stood and then staggered.

              Anna took some time getting both conscious again.

“I came home and you and Gen weren’t here, Ethan,” she explained to her husband, her voice sounding shrill and almost painful even in her own ears. “I knew something was wrong so I ran here and I found this...this water and you and Alicia like this.” She was ranting and raving, a panic heavy in her chest. “I’m worried, I’m scared. Please do something.” She was scared to death. She couldn’t breathe. She would never survive if something happened to her baby. Her fears immediately went down the darkest roads that she could possibly imagine. It took all of the effort she had in order to reel them back in towards something resembling reality.

              “Gen!” Ethan said as he quickly rose to his feet. “Where are Gen and Rhi?”

              Realization that their daughters were missing put all three into a frenzy. They searched high and they searched low, but they were not able to find their children. Everywhere they looked, there was nothing.  All were terrified. Anna couldn’t help think in the worst way that this could be her fault.

Chapter Four

Alicia looked at Anna and Ethan. Anna paced around and looked from man to woman and then down at the floor. "What do you remember, baby?" she asked her husband, her words earnest, terrified. She was trying to get Ethan to recall anything, of course. They had to figure out what had happened to their girls. That was all that mattered. She walked over to him and put her hand on his wrist. Ethan looked up and stared at Anna. He was terrified. God, of course he was, they were all terrified. Alicia watched the married couple, quietly.

Ethan struggled to tell her. "I don't remember anything really," he confessed, his voice a near whisper. "I headed home from work and swung by here to pick up Genesis. I don't even really remember seeing her. Everything went blank shortly after I got to Alicia's house."

Anna then turned to Alicia. Alicia felt frozen in spot, but she saw her own horror reflected identically in her best friend's eyes. The deep green eyes were a mirror of her own dark ones, reflecting back the intense terror that went too deep.  She stared at Anna, who put her hand on her shoulder. "Alicia," Anna said, her voice trembling. Anna was as terrified as she was, but she was trying to behave with more boldness and strength. Alicia always admired Anna for that. She was strong and projected a strong image, even when doing so was near impossible. "Alicia, sweetheart, what do you remember? Do you remember anything about what happened before? Sweetheart?"

Alicia felt an incredible haze over her heart and her head. It was like she was underwater, only able to see hazy outlines of everything around her. She was also only able to think in bouts of haziness.. "I don't remember enough, Anna," she whispered, feeling panicked. Her daughter depended on her ability to remember what had happened to her. "Anna...I had Gen and Rhi here and they were sitting at the table, eating snack. Gen was talking about how excited she was for Ethan to come get her."

"Okay," Anna said calmly. She was looking at Alicia like she had told her something useful. Alicia, however knew that her words meant absolutely nothing. She didn’t remember anything. All she remembered was watching the girls, like it was any other day. That was where her memories stopped, even though something sinister had happened. She was useless.  "What else?"

Alicia tried her best to explain, even though her head felt so heavy. Yeah, she felt like she was under water but she also felt like there was a weight dragging her deeper and deeper, it’s grasp cold and hard  "I was talking to the girls and then kind of like Ethan said, everything fell blank. I think I got really cold all of a sudden." All that she could remember was a rush of cold over her body and then absolutely nothing. What had happened to her? It made her want to cry.

Anna took control. "Okay, Alicia, call the police," her best friend ordered. Alicia nodded and shakily walked over to her phone, which was mounted on the wall in the kitchen. . She took the phone and dialed the numbers with shaky hands. As she listened to the phone ring, she could hear Anna telling Ethan to call his brother. It seemed like her conversation with the police and Ethan's with his brother were mingling inside of her head. She could not shake the confusion, no matter how hard she tried. Her breathing raced..

"Hello, please help. My daughter and her best friend are missing. My friend and I were knocked over by a wave of water or something and when we woke up our kids were gone. No, I'm not crazy...just please send someone, please." 

She was making no sense. She was barely even conscious.

"Hi, it's Ethan. Please come over. I'm at Alicia's house. There was some kind of magic used and Alicia and I got knocked out. When we woke up the kids were gone. Please, please bro get over here."

The police assured that they were sending someone over, even though they spoke to Alicia like she was utterly insane. She knew she was insane. She had lost it. Her only hope was missing and she had lost her mind. Meanwhile, Ethan's brother had told him that he was sending a friend ahead and that he'd be there quickly, before the police even managed to show. Ethan had sounded a little skeptical at that, but had accepted his brother's words for what it was. They were all so shaken up that they would take anything at face value, really.

Like Ethan's brother had promised, the man he sent ahead arrived at least five minutes before the police did. He was a short man with dark hair and almond shaped eyes. He was wearing plain clothes, but carried himself like a member of law enforcement. He was about her age, maybe a little older. He was half-Japanese, she believed. His back was straight and he stared directly into  each of their eyes when he spoke to them.  "I'm Detective Elliot Wayne," he told them, looking around eagerly. "Your brother told me enough about this case and I want to see if I can help before the cops show up. I know you called the cops, even if that wasn't wise."

Alicia was about to argue with his assessment that calling the police wasn't wise. They were desperate parents whose children had just gone missing. What on earth were they supposed to do? This was the only option they had. The police were going to help them find their daughters, of course.  She was about to yell at him, but found that her voice was not there with her. She swallowed on it and sighed out loud as the man started to explore the house.

"There was definitely some very strong magic used in this house," he said, as he walked along the walls and touched. He put his hands on the wet carpet and closed his eyes, concentrating like he was able to feel something that they weren't. "Whoever flooded this house is damned powerful. This is definitely going to be an interesting case. This could actually lead me to them." His voice was hyperactive, intense and he seemed to be overjoyed. That disturbed her, more than a little. He should not sound so happy. Their babies were missing! She took a step towards him.

"What are you..."

"Yes!" he yelled out, as he evidently felt something else. "Oh my god." His eyes lit up with a total exuberance and joy. He seemed like a little kid who had just been given everything that he ever wanted in his life. "This is perfect. This is absolutely perfect. I have been waiting for this call for most of my life! Brilliant!"

Alicia followed him as he scaled the room, evidently looking for something and finding just that. She did not understand this strange man or his motives and that really bothered her. "What are you doing?" she asked him, unable to hide her biting anger. He was walking around her house like he owned the place and looked overjoyed over the fact that her daughter had been abducted. All they knew about this man was that Ethan’s brother had sent him. Was Kyle crazy?

"I knew that the kids were special somehow," he said, totally ignoring her as he walked over to the kitchen table. The kids had finished eating snack but their plates were still on the countertop. He touched the plate and closed his eyes, like he was trying to hone in something. "They are very special..."

Alicia saw red with the way that the man was looking around the house. There was something gleeful in his eyes and that part of his expression made her irrationally angry. "What are you looking like that for?" she asked. "This shouldn't be making you excited! My baby is gone and I have no idea who took her!" She almost started to cry, but held that back. Alicia was a very tough woman, or at least she tried to be. She knew that tears were only going to make her weak, something she couldn't afford, especially in front of this new nut job. Rhi and Genesis really needed her. She had to be strong.