Ephemeral creatures, p.37
Ephemeral Creatures, page 37
Kevin studied his friends as they rested. Chad looked well, tanner and a great deal leaner than before. He was still overweight but had evidently been watching his diet. And he seemed much happier overall. Tara seemed better as well. She still looked as good as ever, maybe even better—a bit less made up, as though she wasn’t trying so hard to impress others anymore. Her Instagram page had a note on it the last time he checked, a few weeks earlier, which said she was taking a “wellness break” from social media. Whatever that meant, it seemed to have worked. Putting a finger on the difference was hard, but she seemed better in spirit, more at peace with herself, perhaps.
Tara smiled when she caught him looking. Kevin flushed and looked away.
“So,” she said, “who wants to start?”
“Start the fire?” Chad answered. “I’m on it.”
“Fire? Didn’t know we were doing a fire. Won’t we get in trouble?” Tara looked around as if Smokey the Bear might come crashing through the brush and lecture them about fire danger. Technically, they could get in trouble, but this was a special occasion, and Kevin knew their tiny fire wouldn’t get out of control, with nothing flammable on the boulder.
“Hell yeah, we are,” Chad said. “We’re gonna toast some marshmallows, right, Kevin?”
“Yep.”
“Well, in that case, by all means!” Tara laughed.
The three gathered up a sufficient pile of dry sticks then settled back down. Using a Zippo, Chad lit some tinder, then slowly fed kindling to the tiny flame until a small fire was soon burning cheerily.
While Chad worked, Tara took off her boots and socks, hissing in pain at raw blisters on both heels. She doused her blisters with some water.
“You mentioned starting…” Kevin said to her after a minute or so.
“Oh, right. Who wants to go first and fill us in on what’s been going on?”
“I’ll go,” Kevin said. Though the three friends had stayed in touch over the past two months through texting, he didn’t remember exactly what he’d shared with who. “After I was discharged from the hospital, I got things squared with my parole officer, who gave me a pass, considering I was hospitalized after being attacked by a mass murderer. Oh, and that GoFundMe really helped me out, Tara. Thanks again for that.”
“My pleasure.” She smiled.
“You have my thanks too,” Chad said. “You and Stacy both put that together, and I’m debt free after all that mess.”
That was a bit of an understatement. The fundraiser had raised a little over $120,000 all told, which after covering all their medical bills, had left each of them a nice little nest egg to build on.
“You’re welcome, guys,” Tara said.
“Tell Stacy thanks for me too,” Kevin said. “Looking forward to meeting her.”
Chad smiled. “Will do.”
“And you’re working now?” Tara prompted.
Kevin nodded. “Yep, once I felt ready, I finally took Scott up on his offer to put in a word for me at his office. He did so, and I interviewed and got hired a week later, working in the billing office at the Rincon Medical Center. Not my dream job, but it’s good for now.”
“Nice. Any girlfriend possibilities?” Chad was lounging against the slope of the boulder with a content smile.
Kevin smiled ruefully. He hadn’t told them about his and Lidia’s heart-to-heart, figuring that should remain between the two of them, circumstances being what they were. “Not at the moment. I’ve chatted with my apartment neighbor, Lisa, a few times now, and she seems nice. And she made it clear she’s single. Who knows? Maybe eventually, once I’ve been able to put everything behind me…” He shrugged. Once I’ve made peace with everything that’s happened. And can finally let Liddy go. He knew she would want him to meet someone special.
Before they could reply, he added, “Another thing I’ve decided is that I’m going to try to write a book about our experiences, assuming you guys are okay with that. I’ll be sure to change everyone’s names and details. I just want people to know about Liddy and the wonderful person she is.” He still couldn’t bring himself to use the past tense when referring to his friend.
Tara looked impressed. “Kevin, that’s really great! I say go for it.”
“Cool, man.” Chad grinned. “Just make sure I’m six-two, a buck eighty, and wicked cut. When the movie comes out, just cast the Thor guy—Hemsworth—to play me.”
They all laughed.
“Your turn, Chad,” Tara said.
“Welp… I got back in touch with the fam, which you guys knew already. Everything’s cool on that front, more or less. Still working at the bookstore.” He scratched his jaw. “Guess the only thing different is Stacy and I are dating now.”
Tara rolled her eyes. “What took you so long?”
Chad chuckled. “She said the same thing when I finally asked her to dinner.”
“What about her kids?” Kevin asked. “Wasn’t that a hang-up for you?”
He shrugged. “Honestly, they’re kinda growing on me. I don’t mind ’em too much, just so long as the adults get some quality alone time now and then.”
“Nice, man.” Kevin punched his friend on the shoulder before turning to Tara. “You did a great job with your Dateline interview.”
“For sure,” Chad said. “Everyone seeming to buy the story?”
“Thanks. For now, it seems that way.”
Tara had agreed to be the one to speak to the media on behalf of the three of them. First, neither Chad nor Kevin wanted the attention. Second, she was by far the most telegenic. And third, she could relate the most believable story. For the sake of credibility, she ran with the same story they’d told Chad’s aunt, of recalling Vollan at the accident scene after a breakthrough in repressed memories following years of therapy. She’d enlisted her old friends, and they eventually tracked Vollan down via the tattoo. The story kept mostly to the truth, avoiding mention of Lidia other than as the victim. It also avoided mentioning Kevin had violated parole by leaving Arizona. Two weeks after her interviews with the local media, Dateline came calling.
Their story was more believable the way Tara told it, but Kevin felt Lidia deserved credit as the real hero, which inspired him to write his book.
One interesting revelation that had come out during the Dateline piece had been the FBI’s arrest of an associate of Vollan’s, one Harold Ashby. Agents had traced Vollan’s digital correspondence to an ex-con pedophile who’d been helping him. The US Attorney planned to charge Ashby as an accessory to kidnapping, both for Tara’s family and Mallory Reyes, along with more pending charges. In the meantime, Ashby was back behind bars for violating parole after the FBI raid of his home found him to be in possession of child pornography once again.
“What else you been up to, Tara?” Kevin asked.
“Well… after some soul-searching, I checked myself into rehab. I’ve been clean for a month now and counting.”
“Congrats,” Kevin said, echoed by Chad. “That must’ve been hard.”
She nodded. “Harder than facing down that psycho, Vollan, honestly. Admitting I needed help is one thing, but actually reaching out and getting it is next level. So now, I’m mostly just working on being a better mother and wife.”
“How’s your little boy doing?” Chad asked.
She smiled. “Much better, thank God. Kids bounce back pretty well, though we’re keeping him in counseling for a while just to be on the safe side.”
“Still on your social media break?” Kevin asked.
Other than her wellness break message, she’d posted little since their ordeal besides a few pictures and videos, as promised, modeling the Abaddon’s Call T-shirt and advertising the band’s top-selling album. Ironically, as Tara had mentioned in a text, her newfound fame from her involvement in the Vollan saga had caused her follower numbers to more than triple—she had well over three million Instagram followers, and the count was growing steadily, easily eclipsing that first million she’d been heart-set on reaching for so long.
“Yeah, pretty much.” She shrugged. “Maybe done for good. Don’t really miss it much, to be honest. It’s like a weight off my back.”
Kevin’s eyebrows climbed. “Really? Even after hitting your million milestone?”
“Well… I’ve got something else I’m kinda focused on too. You aren’t going to believe this, but the general manager at the NBC affiliate in Phoenix actually contacted me after the Dateline piece aired. She was impressed with my ‘onscreen presence,’ as she called it, and saw I had a degree in broadcast journalism. She asked whether I was still interested in pursuing that field.”
“What did you tell her?”
“I have an interview on Friday,” she said with a smile.
“Whoa, sweet,” Chad said.
Kevin applauded. “That’s great, Tara.”
“Thanks, guys. Hope I don’t screw it up.”
“Even though our circumstances are all different,” Chad said, “I think I can say with confidence that makes three of us with the same hopes. Am I right?”
They all laughed.
“Correct, sir,” Tara said.
They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes as the fire crackled and the creek burbled. The tranquil setting made Kevin wish more than ever that Lidia could share the experience. Oddly, she still hadn’t appeared, and he was growing a little worried. The sun would be setting before long.
“Liddy isn’t around?” Chad asked, obviously picking up on his thoughts.
He shook his head. “Not yet. But she’ll show at some point.”
Chad rummaged in his pack and pulled out a bag of large marshmallows and some metal skewers. “Was Liddy a toasted marshmallow fan?” He stuck a marshmallow on a skewer then passed the extras around with the bag.
Kevin speared a marshmallow and held it over the flames. “Hmm. Honestly, can’t remember ever having them with her. She was always jealous when I went on camping trips in the Boy Scouts. We’d always talked about our big road-trip adventure to California to learn to surf and camp out on the beach and stuff, but that never happened. I’m sure she would be a fan, though. She liked them in hot chocolate.” He saw Tara was holding her marshmallow too low and reached over to guide her hand higher, but he was too late.
“Shit!” She yanked her flaming marshmallow out of the fire and stared at it in horror.
“Blow it out,” Chad said.
She did so, leaving a charred husk. “Damn, wasted that one.”
“Nah, just pull off the burnt part,” Kevin said.
“Oooh, I see.” Tara smiled as the gooey center was revealed.
“Never been camping before, I take it?” Chad asked.
“Nope.”
Probably not hiking much either, Kevin thought with a glance at her blistered feet.
She got the hang of marshmallow toasting after that. Once they each had a few of the tasty treats, Chad pulled out a bottle from his pack along with several plastic cups.
“What’s that?” Kevin asked.
“SoCo. Figured we’d drink one in her honor.”
“She liked that stuff?” Kevin didn’t recall Lidia drinking much of anything other than an occasional wine cooler. And Zima—she’d liked those. Come to think of it, he couldn’t recall ever having tried Southern Comfort himself.
“She said she liked it when she was drinking it at the party.” Chad hesitated and eyed the two of them. “You guys cool with this?”
Tara nodded. “I’m done with the Oxy, but I still have a glass of wine now and again and don’t plan to go beyond that. This is different, being a special occasion.”
“Kevin?”
“Sure, just a small sip for me.” He had given up drinking because of his parole restrictions, but as Tara had said, this was a special occasion.
Chad poured the liquor into three cups, only a small splash for Kevin and Tara and a bit more for himself. Then he added some to a fourth cup. He held up his drink. “To Liddy.”
“To Liddy,” Kevin and Tara echoed before downing the shots.
The dash of Southern Comfort scorched Kevin’s uninitiated taste buds like a lit match as he knocked it back. After the initial shock, he noted it went down smooth with a slightly spicy finish. Altogether, it wasn’t bad at all though he was still surprised that Lidia had liked it.
“Whew,” Tara said, eyes wide.
Chad took Lidia’s cup and slowly poured it out on the rock beside him as they all watched solemnly.
Afterward, Kevin noticed he wasn’t the only one who had to wipe his eyes.
***
Lidia watched her friends with a bittersweet longing as they drank and poured one out for her. More than anything, she wished she could be there with them in the flesh, but such was not her fate.
“Come on, not yet,” she whispered.
She was very thin now, the pull of whatever lay beyond the Between Space growing ever stronger. Even though she felt ready to move on, she was also hesitant to say goodbye forever.
Her sanctuary looked cold and empty now. The hearth had gone out, and she’d taken down all her posters and artwork, leaving bare stone walls. The big red crisis light on the control panel had been dim for some time, and she felt confident that, even if she hadn’t been departing, it would stay that way.
“Please let me be able to do this,” she said quietly, mustering her remaining strength.
The veil resisted her as it had ever since she first gained awareness in the Between Space, but now the resistance was much stronger, like in the early days. Finally, after an epic struggle, she fought her way through, emerging on the big stone across the fire from her three friends. She smiled at them, willing Kevin to see her.
Her heart sank when he glanced her way, his gaze distant, not seeing her.
I’m too late! Or too weak. The thought disheartened her so much that she nearly lost her hold right then. I can do this. Need to hold it together just a little longer.
She could feel the sun sinking and, with it, the solstice’s energy waning. If not for the solstice, she suspected she wouldn’t have found the strength to appear at all. But maybe those were just her rambling thoughts. Maybe it had nothing to do with it and she was simply making excuses.
I need to pass on one last message. Other than the obvious regret over not being able to stay with Kevin, she was more than content with how things stood between them. They’d both said what was needed. In the coming moments, as she continued on her journey, she planned to embrace that wonderful dream they’d shared, when he declared his love for her. A warmth suffused that hollow in her breast at the memory.
The poet Conrad Aiken, one of her favorites, had once written, “Death is never an ending, death is a change / Death is beautiful, for death is strange / Death is one dream out of another flowing.”
She liked to believe that was so, for that final dream with Kevin was the one she would gladly wrap herself fully in.
After glancing around, she spied a hollow in the stone down by the waterline, a spot where the creek’s high flow had deposited silt. Lidia knelt and put her index finger in the sand. It took some effort, but much like drawing in the dust on Kevin’s table, she was able to shift the sand just enough to leave her message.
***
Kevin abruptly sensed her presence. He looked up, a big smile forming on his lips. Surprise quickly followed at what he saw—or didn’t see. Lidia herself was not visible, but after a moment of confusion, he spotted the message forming in the sand.
Chad made a surprised noise, and Tara gasped.
The three rose as one. Chad lost his balance and grabbed Kevin’s shoulder to steady himself so that he wouldn’t fall into the fire. Kevin stabilized his friend as the words took shape.
“What does it say?” Tara asked in a whisper.
All of them waited, hesitant to break the spell, until the words stopped forming. Then, following Kevin’s lead, they moved a few steps closer until they could read the message:
Thank you for not forgetting me
New adventures await when we meet again
Believe that magic exists
I love you all—live well!
“Never,” Kevin said fiercely. “We’ll never forget you.” He cast around in growing concern at his inability to see her.
“Is she still here?” Tara asked.
Just as Kevin feared she was gone and opened his mouth to say so, the canyon wall eclipsed the setting sun. Whether what followed was due to some mystical power of the solstice or not, he couldn’t say. But he thought Lidia was right about the existence of magic.
The fiery corona cast a dazzling light that abruptly banished the shadows on their boulder. There, revealed in the gloaming’s last light, stood Lidia. She looked as substantial as in life, the eighties punk girl who was so familiar, minus the injuries. The dear friend who blessed Kevin’s life for ten precious years. The determined skater girl who carried him on her back when he was hurt. The brave defender who fought beside them against Vollan, ultimately vanquishing the monster. Lidia, whose appearance had brought Kevin back from the brink of his wasted life and not only helped reforge old friendships, but also instilled hope for what the future might hold.
Lidia, whom he had declared his love to and would always reside in his heart.
Tara made a noise like a strangled sob. “My God… Liddy, it’s you!”
“I can see her,” Chad breathed in wonder.
For that magical moment, Lidia regarded them with a beatific smile. Whether mere seconds or a couple of minutes passed, Kevin couldn’t say, utterly enthralled in the moment. Lidia met each of their eyes in turn. When she locked eyes with Kevin last, her smile broadened, and he felt her projected love as a palpable force. She looked angelic with her aureate eyes and heartbreaking smile. Tears shimmered on her cheeks, mirroring Kevin’s own. She blew Kevin a kiss, then raised a hand in farewell and faded away with the last ray of sunlight.
Kevin knew he had truly lost her forever. He’d done his best to prepare for this moment but still couldn’t help falling to his knees as a strangled sob burst out.
