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Chapter 2
- Cameron -
I looked around the dark room. I knew where I was; I'd been here before. "What do you want?"
A man walked into the room.
"How come you never show your true form?"
"I find it's hard for so many to look upon the sweetest puppy if it's ugly." The man grinned. In this costume he was far from ugly.
"You flatter yourself." I looked at him with distaste. "You don't know the meaning of sweet."
"On the contrary." He grinned and waved his hand to show the room I had just left. My body was still there, shaking in the corner and Brian and Carie was standing there, helpless, not knowing what to do.
"I thought I told him to keep her away." I growled at the scene before me, but then jumped as a feather light feeling went a cross my arm. I touched my arm and then looked back up and saw that Brian was lifting my head and resting it in his lap and Carie was placing a blanket over me.
The alien grinned.
"This doesn't make you sweet." I snapped at him.
"But I do know the meaning."
"So what? What do you want from me this time? I think your last…whatever you call it, nearly killed me."
"No, you're to useful of entertainment alive."
"Yeah well have your fun now, our contract is almost up."
"Ah yes, you're grandmother is dying." He paused and then smiled. "Old age, I assure you. I've kept my end of the bargain."
"Yeah, let me see." The truth of it, I had never known my parents and my grandmother was like my real mother.
He shrugged and waved his hand showing the sight of a woman who was older, but still happy. She sat on her rocker, a vast valley stretched out before her from her front porch. The woman inhaled a happy breath and looked around. She nodded at all the things she liked. She looked down at the frame in her lap.
"Show me the picture." I commanded.
"So snippy." He grinned, knowing the out come of this move. He waved his hand and the scene shifted to where the frame was in full view.
I sucked in a deep breath. It was a picture of me at the age of 5. I turned a tower of fury burned deep. "You told me she would never know I existed."
"She doesn't." He smiled. "She thinks it came with the frame. 'A pretty daughter she would make' is what she said." He flipped his wrist and a cigarette appeared.
"You know I hate aliens." I growled.
He laughed a bead of smoke out. "And I hate humans, so the feeling is mutual."
"What do you want from me? You're going to kill me if I don't stop convulsing." I pointed to the scene that was in the apartment again.
"So stop." He said, looking into my eyes. I looked at the scene and I had stopped convulsing, but I was still 'dead' to the world.
"What do you want?" I tried to keep control, he wanted me to lose it and I would not let him win his game.
He walked over to a desk that appeared out of nowhere and sat down on a chair that did the same. A beautiful woman walked into he room through one of the black walls and handed him a manila folder, then disappeared. He tossed the folder on the counter.
I looked at it then him. "What is it?"
"You." He grinned.
I walked over to the table and picked up the folder. The tab stated my name. I looked up at him with speculation. "Why are you letting me see this?"
"You have one more mission to complete before I can let you go, agreed."
I tilted my head in wonder, my fingers "What if I finish before term?"
"You'll be done, but…if you don't finish in time, you're still mine until you finish."
I looked down at the folder. "So what is this?"
"You're contract, your past, and your future."
I handed him back the folder. "I don't want to know my future." I tossed it on the table. "And I would rather just forget my past."
The alien laughed, it was like a scream.
My eyes widened. "It was you…who did you kill?"
The alien grinned. "So you remember?"
"How could I forget? I've been seeing the same thing for days."
"Well, I assure you it won't quite happen so entertainginly, but a baby from your planet will die."
"They die everyday."
He grinned. "But how many come in contact with you?"
I turned and looked at the scene. I looked back at him, full of disgust. "Why, what has she ever done to you?"
"I told you, you are not to come in contact with anyone while you are mine. The old man is fine, he's got a good motto." He laughed the same scream laugh. He turned in his chair and looked at the scene; Brian was stroking my cheek and Carie was placing a warm wash rag on my forehead. I could almost feel it. "This Brian, I'm not sure how I feel about him." He turned and looked at me. "You seem to hate him, that's why he's not dead yet."
I was going to hit the floor when a chair popped up beneath me. "Why must you kill her baby? Why?"
The alien sighed, "If I've explained this once, I've explained it too many times."
I rested my head in my hands and my elbows on my knees. "Why me?"
"Because, you're the strongest female." He grinned. "And the most entertaining."
I stood and pounded my fist on the table. "This is not a game! We are not toys in a chess match!"
He was unprovoked. "I know, chess is much to boring."
"I want out, I want out now!"
He shrugged. "Fine." He waved his hand and my grandmother's gasping for air entered the room. I looked up to see her drop the picture and clutch her throat.
"No!" I reached for her, but I was paralyzed. My body was convulsing. "Stop it! Stop it, fine, I'll stay." I was near to tears when he stopped. I had never even come close to tears before. I turned, filled with rage. "What do you want me to do?"
"You'll have to do two things now."
I closed my eyes, the pain of tears becoming closer. "What?" I whispered.
"Tell the woman how her baby will die."
I turned my back when I heard this.
"And the second part will come after, in a dream."
"When?"
"Some time after the baby is dead."
I shook my head. This was too hard.
Soon I woke up and looked up at a pair of piercing blue eyes. I looked away only to get caught up in a pair of green ones. "Carie." I whispered in horror.
She looked at Brian then at me.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." I sat up and then walked over to the door. "I told you Brian. Any one who comes near me dies." I turned on him. "Why don't you listen to me? Why doesn't anyone listen to me?"
Brian stood and walked over. He pulled me into his arms and wouldn't let me go.
"The baby." I whispered.
Brian looked down into my eyes and then at Carie, then me. "Who's doing this?"
"I can't say." That answer was both honest and for his sake. Even if I wanted to tell him, I didn't know this…this thing's name. I took a deep breath and walked over to Carie. Taking her by her hands I sat her down.
"What's wrong with you?" She asked, worried.
"Nothing, that's natural."
"Natural? I've never ad one of those in…"
"Natural for me. I'll die if I don't have them."
Carrie gave me a pity look and I wanted to just let her figure it out herself, but in order for me to get my final…mission, job, assignment, whatever you want to call it. It's my final one and I can't get it until I tell her.
"Carrie, I have something I have to tell you. Now, I'm not physic because I can't pick what I see and I'm not a prophet because god doesn't talk to me. I can't tell you who tells me this stuff because we could all die if I did."
"Who's dyeing?" She interrupted.
"Your baby."
Carie jerked back her hands in shock and looked at her belly. Her hands stroked the infant through her skin. "When?"
"I don't know. I've been having nightmares about it. The man, alien, thing is enjoying the world's suffering and he kills any one who is nice to me."
Carie looked over at Brian.
I shook my head. "He knows I can't stand Brian so there's no reason to hurt him."
Carie nodded. "How much is it going to cost you for telling us this?"
"Nothing for a while. After the baby is gone, then…then I don't know what will happen. I'll have a dream, but then I have to figure out what it means and how to solve the problem."
"Why does he do this?"
"He's bored."
Brian's temper was boiling the whole time he was listening to this. "Bored? He's bored?"
"Brian shut up!"
He stopped yelling at the sound of mine.
"I don't like you but I don't want a dream saying you've got a knife through your head. So don't provoke him! Got it! He can use me to kill you. I've never had to, but he's warned me that if he gets annoyed enough he'll do it to teach me a lesson."
"What do you mean lesson?" Brian asked.
"Look I have to go. This is more than you need to know."
"How will you know the baby is dead?" Carie took my hand as I stood up.
"I'll know. I'm sorry you had to be the one who was nice in New York."
Carie smiled. "There are quite a few nice ones."
"Wait, Mac is nice to you, how come he's still alive?" Brian asked.
I turned to look at him. "Because he's too important."
"Mac? A baker? How's that?" Carie asked.
"I'm not going to discuss any more." I said as I walked to the door. "I've already said too much, I know it. I turned to Carie before I left. "You should have no other birth problems after this. This is a one time lesson, just be sure if you see me in the street, you flip me off and don't come say hi." I smiled at Carie's hesitant laugh before I left.
The New York wind nipped at my skin and I headed back to the bakery for Bruno.
"Wait, Cameron, hold up."
I stopped, grumbling under my breath. Brian caught up with; he had run out in a hurry and didn't even grab a jacket. "Are you nuts? It's 15 below?"
"I won't have any if we don't get going. Come on." We ran to the bakery and Brian ordered an extra large coffee. I settled him down in front of the fire and Bruno rested his warm belly on Brain's feet. "That's some dog." Brian laughed.
"And you're an idiot." I pushed the hot mug in his hand. "What are you trying to catch hypothermia? Have you lost you mind?"
"No and no. And I'm not an idiot. But it's nice to know you care."
"I care about you about as far as I can throw you." I growled under my breath and after pacing a few times, sat on the table. "What do you want? Are you really a Feeby who's trying to get on my good side and trip me up, because I have no good side."
"I want answers. Heck no, I'm not with the FBI. You have a good side; I'm looking right at it. And why are you so jumpy?"
"Because I live in hiding and I don't need people knowing who I am or where I am. Unfortunately I have you to come and jeopardize all that."
Brian grinned. "And to think, I assumed we bonded in some special way back at the apartment."
She scoffed. "You wish choir boy."
Brian laughed. "Maybe, maybe not. You're the one who 'sees' things. You tell me."
"I'm not a physic," she started with a glare, " it's not my fault this freak likes to play games with me."
"Hey, I didn't say it was." Still, he smiled.
Mac stepped outside at the sight of a fire engine flying past. "Uh, Cam, Hun, I think your apartment is on fire."
"What?" I ran out the door and choked on a scream. I forced back fowl words as I walked back into the bakery fuming mad.
Brian
I don't think I've ever seen a woman react to things as she did. In fact, I know I've never seen it. She got mad at me for being nice. Evasive about her past and her present. Aggravated about knowing the future. Overly cautious about everything. And at the pressure point when her apartment was set on fire.
"You don't have anything valuable there?" I asked.
"My gun." She shrugged, and then it seemed as realization hit her. "My knife." She growled under her breath.
"You're a violent little thing, aren't you?" I asked, meaning to tease.
"I'm cautious." She barked back.
"Do you have anywhere to go? Do you have any money?"
She pulled out her wallet from her pocket and looked through it. "I have seventy-five dollars."
"Credit cards?"
She looked at me I like I was an idiot.
"What?"
"Did you listen to anything I tried to tell you? People are trying to kill me. That means murder. Do you think I'm so stupid I'd buy a credit card so the government could watch me until their ready to burn me at the stake like I'm some sort of witch."
It hadn't occurred to me that things could be that bad for her. Most people I met exaggerated if they were in trouble. Like they over spent on their credit cards and now the IRS was out for them. That was nothing compared to what she was going through.
I watched as the turned her back, running a hand through her hair.
"Come with me."
"What?" Her tone was irate, but she didn't turn to face me.
"I'm going on tour tomorrow. Come with me, you'll be safe."
"Yeah right, you're groupie fans would probably kill me quicker than a Feeby if just given the weapon and the motive." She started to pace the room and Bruno raided his head and whimpered at his mistress. "Don't you start liking him.
Bruno whimpered again.
"Are you two talking to each other?" Brian asked with a laugh.
"No, " She snapped. "But I can tell when he starts to like someone."
"So come with me. I have four other friends you can hate and they can hate you and we call all hate each other."
I watched as she turned her head away so I couldn't see her smile, but I did and it was a small victory for me.
She was quite for a minute and I let the silence go on so she could think. "What about her?"
"She's calling her mom and she's gonna go stay with her."
Cameron paced again and the dog's tail pounded on the floor. "Oh shut up."
The dog barked in response.
"What's up with you two?"
"He knows I'm caving."
I looked down at the dog and grinned. "Good dog."
The dog barked up at me.
"Bruno can come?"
"Yeah, of course. The guys may have a tantrum, but hey, it's something else for you to hate each other over."
This time she couldn't hold back a chuckle. She took a deep breath and looked at her dog. "I have no clothes and not much money."
"I'll pay for it. I don't think you're a very dependent woman so…"
"I can hate you for that too." She finished and snapped her fingers. The dog jumped up and ran to her side. He sat and gave her his paw. "Good Bruno." She shook the dog's paw like it was a hand and then scratched behind his ears. "Such a handsome puppy."
I smirked at her endearments to the dog. It was probably the only thing she really loved. I felt a tug at my heart for that though. She had guarded herself so much that she shunned everyone else away.
I looked down at my coffee when she looked up at me with an arched eyebrow. I didn't know why I looked down; it was a reflex possibly. I looked back over and she had turned her attention to the old man. I couldn't be certain from this position and the way she was standing, but it almost seemed as if she was crying.
No, no she couldn't have been…could she? Old man Mac was balling, that was with out dispute, but Cameron? In the short times that I've bumped into her here maybe I had prematurely guessed at her strength. Maybe all this was too much for her.
It was easy to tell when Cameron's frame shook against Mac's that she was in fact crying, but not a sound was heard of her cries. The old man looked at me and nodded me over. I didn't know what to other than obey.
I stood, setting my things on the chair, and walked over. Slowly, deliberately Mac moved the crying Cameron into my arms. She didn't protest, emotions of leaving this man were so strong.
Why did she care so much for the baker? Brian wondered this but didn't have even a single wonder as to why the baker would miss Cameron. He had shown no signs of a wife or family…making Cameron the closest thing he had, and now she was being forced to leave.
I looked down at Cameron; she was only an inch or two shorter than I was, but she was hunched over, her head burred in the crook of my neck and shoulder, making her appear shorter. Her arms were around my waist while mine were around her shoulders, the pads of my thumbs circled on the spine of her back, trying to comfort her.
Her frame felt good against me and I willed my senses to take a break for once just to I could comfort her and make her feel better. It wasn't much use. The smell of her shampoo mixed with whatever light fragrance she wore filled my nose and intoxicated me.
She was crushed against me and crying, but for some reason she sill didn't seem venerable.
She took in a deep breath and eased back, taking an extra step to distance herself from me and turned away to wipe the tears from her face. It was obvious she wasn't accustomed to crying, especially to strangers.
This was going to be a bumpy ride.
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