Aphter: 31

01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

31

Romeo sat on the couch, rubbing his neck. David pulled a chair from the little dining table and sat facing Romeo on the other side of the small coffee table. There was a soft chair at the end of the coffee table. I sat there.

"I have always been a seeker," Romeo began. "All my life, I've been fascinated with anything magical or fanciful. I was, in life, an avid spiritualist and was active in several occult organizations in my home town." He glanced at David and me to see that we were listening and then continued. "I was always frustrated, however, because I wanted strongly to know and to see something real and tangible."

"There's a whole real and tangible world to see, you know," David said. "You don't have to go looking for real things, only fake things."

"No," Romeo frowned, "I wasn't interested in natural things. I wanted to see something real that was magical or supernatural. I was obsessed with the idea."

David growled some muttering curse under his breath and let out a heavy sigh, looking up at the ceiling in disgust.

Romeo continued. "Then, almost six months ago, I met Emanyara at a meeting of wiccans I had started attending."

"Wiccans?" I asked. "You mean witches?"

"Natural magic, yes," Romeo said, glancing at me. "Not black magic. I was not a wiccan myself, really, but I was checking it out. Mr. Emanyara, as it turned out, was also not a wiccan. He was there looking for an apprentice. He approached me after the meeting that evening. He said he had come into some writings, very old, that could unlock what he called 'The door to eternal rest.' It was the door to the land of the dead."

"To this place?" David asked.

"No, I don't think so," Romeo said. "Maybe none of it was real, but it seemed so genuine at the time. Emanyara showed me things, things more real than any I had ever seen. I believed him. I was convinced that the knowledge he had was genuine."

"And what do you think now that you're here?" asked David.

Romeo just looked at the ground for a long second. "Things here are not what I expected," he said. "But, it's good. It's more, natural."

"You're disappointed?" David cocked an eyebrow at him.

"No," Romeo smiled. "No, not really. Maybe just a little, I don't know. This is the first I've discussed it with anyone. I'm very happy here. I'm going to live with my mother and her sister in a few days."

"Get to the part about Darla," David said.

"Yes," Romeo fidgeted. "The knowledge that Emanyara shared with me, it was about a song."

"The Maker Song?"

Romeo looked shocked. "Yes," he said. "Yes, that's right. Is it real?"

"I don't know," David said. "Go on."

"Emanyara said that the song was planted, long ago, into a woman called Beloved. The Maker laid with her, because the Maker loved her, and she became pregnant with a daughter. When Beloved's daughter was born, however, Beloved died. The Maker, distraught, fled away and has not been seen again. According to these writings that Emanyara had found, only after 400 daughters stood before her would Beloved be reborn. Then, she would sing the song and the Maker would return."

"Where did this guy get these writings?" David asked. "How old were they?"

"He didn't show all of them to me," Romeo said, "and the one's I saw, I could not read. Most of them, however, were birth records."

"Of course," David sighed. "And these led to Darla Montagne?"

"Darla Renee Montagne, according to Emanyara, was Beloved reborn."

"Beloved reborn," David said. "In Texas?"

"Yes," Romeo smiled. "And why not?"

"So," I said, "you kidnapped her?"

"No! No, I didn't," said Romeo defensively. "It took us a while to find her. Emanyara did not know exactly who she was when he first arrived. I helped him. When we found her, he said he was certain she was the one. Even her name means 'Beloved Reborn.'" Romeo seemd to find this impressive and glanced, smiling, back and forth between David and me.

"Wow," David replied, as devoid of excitement as he could manage. "So, what did you do?"

"Well, after much persuasion, Emanyara convinced me to approach her. I went to her market, a butcher shop, one day as she was closing. I felt very awkward, but I started a conversation with her, trying to work around slowly to my incredible point. I never even got that far, however. Something I said creeped her out and she asked me to leave."

"Imagine that," I laughed.

"I know," Romeo grinned. "I was still convinced, however. That's when Emanyara insisted that she must come to us. She had to come 'one way or another,' he said."

"So," said David, "you agreed to kidnap her."

"Yes."

"You decided that this was your fate, worth sacrificing your life for, and you submitted to this guy's plan."

"Yes, that's right."

"And then you died. Boom. Dead."

"Yes," said Romeo. "I guess the stress or excitement got to me. I don't know."

"Okay," David sighed. "I guess you don't know what happened after that."

"No," Romeo said. "When I arrived here, I was so distraught. I had become obsessed with Emanyara and the Maker Song. I felt I would never know the truth."

"So, you asked them to tell you when Darla arrived here."

"Right. They said they could only add my name if she was in my family. I said I was a cousin. No one seemed to care. I didn't think it was a big deal."

"Hold on," I said, unable to wait any longer. "This doesn't make sense. I know I talked to this guy! He came into the station to see me."

"No! I did not!" Romeo insisted.

"Yes, you did," David said. "Well, not you, but your body."

Romeo had a look of horror. "What?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked, turning to David.

"Romeo here was Fate's Fool," said David. "But why you? And why Simon?"

"Why me what?" I didn't understand. And then the name Simon registered with me. "Simon Sayer," I said. "I remember that name."

"I've never heard that name," said Romeo.

"Do you know Simon?" David asked, looking intensely interested.

"No," I said, "but Romeo here gave me a license plate number of a car that belonged to Simon. I found it at a gas station."

"On the edge of town?" David asked.

"How did you know?"

32

Comments

[toadman]

Great stuff here Scott! Keep it up!