Karma

by Amanda D.

Part 15

I stood there trying to decide if he was telling me the truth or more lies. The ever present smirk on his face gave me no hint one way or the other. But then again that seemed to be his game, trying to keep everyone guessing what he was really up to.

“So you’re telling me that what I remember from my encounter with the Voice was actually in hell?” I asked

“Jake there is so much going on here. Most of which you just won’t ever understand.” Alexander giggled.

“So tell me what is going on?” I demanded.

He just smiled at me.

 “Tell me now!” I demanded again.

He flew at me so fast I hardly knew he had moved until I was in his grasp. Despite looking frail and weak he easily lifted me off the floor holding me by my blouse and bra straps. I struggled trying to kick at him, with no success. He had me good and the only thing my thrashing about was accomplishing was tearing my shirt.

“You do not demand things from me!” He hollered, his rancid breath sinking into my nostrils. “I own you! I own her and her father and after tomorrow I’ll have the entire family. You were never the one we wanted. You were the one we needed to help corrupt them. And a fine job you’ve done, my boy. You’ve done so well that we even got a little bonus. Your love Pat.”

“No!!!!” I screamed. The mention of Pat’s name threw me into frenzy. I kicked at him some more, bit at his fingers and anything else I could think of to make him to let me go. All the while he just stood there holding up like it was no effort and smiled at me.

“Oh yes Jakey boy. She died trying to help you escape. As a result she was denied access to heaven so we took her. Mater of fact she’s roasting as we speak.” He said gleefully.

With that said he bounced me off the wall hard enough to leave a dent in the plaster and dropped me to the floor. I landed in a crumpled heap. He gave me a kick in the stomach just for good measure and probably spite. Turing away from me, he and walked over to where Mandy lie. I watched him stroke her hair through my tears of pain as I tried to get air back into my lungs. My impact with the wall had knocked so much air out of me, breathing in felt like trying to suck jelly through a straw.

Not long afterward he returned to my side as I struggled to get into a sitting position.

“By the way Jake, she just overdosed on heroin. You may want to get her to the hospital.” He said gleefully as he walked out the door.

‘Heroin? Mandy what did you do?’ I thought to myself.

Struggling to my feet, I staggered over to her bed. Her eyes were glazed over and foam was dripping from the side of her mouth. Checking her pulse, I was relieved to find it was there even if just barely. Picking up the phone and quickly dialing 911, I unconsciously held my breath until the line was answered. I gave the operator all the information that came to mind. She told an ambulance was being dispatched right away.

Ten painfully long minutes later the ambulance arrived. The paramedics burst into the apartment and got right to work on Mandy. One of them asked me where the heroin was so they could test the purity. I told him I had no idea. “There was a tall red headed man in here with her when I arrived. He’s the one that told me she overdosed. For all I know he took it with him.”

“Where is he now?” A voice from behind me asked.

I turned to see a tall walrus mustached police man standing behind me. “I don’t know.” I told him. “He attacked me and kicked me in the stomach. While I was on the floor he left.”

He gave me a skeptical look. “And your name is?” he asked.

I had to think that one over for a minute. Finally I said “Anita. My name is Anita David. That my twin sister Amanda.”

He scribbled the information in his note pad. “Which one of you lives here?” he asked.

“She does.” I said pointing at Mandy.

 Once again he wrote in his book. “Can you tell me again what happened?”

‘God damn it. That son of a bitch. He knew if I stayed to help I’d be stuck here all night. I thought to myself angrily.

I decided to keep as close to the truth as possible, so with some minor omissions, I gave him the whole story. When I finished he continued to write in his note book for several more minutes. He then asked me several questions that were obvious attempts to trip me up and punch holes in my story. I patiently answered all his inquiries, while watching the paramedics work on Mandy out of the corner of my eye.

They moved Mandy to a stretcher and began to wheel her out of the room. I turned to put my coat on and follow them out the door. “Where do you think your going?” The officer asked.

“I’m going with them. I need to be with my sister.”

“We’re not done here. I have a lot more questions to ask you. When I’m done then I’ll have someone give you a ride to the hospital.” He told me in a tone that said no argument on my part would be accepted.

I helpless watched Mandy wheeled out of the room and off the ambulance. I wanted to kill the officer at that point. He began too interrogate me again over the most minute details of my story.

After about thirty five minutes I lost my cool. He asked me one time to many to describe what Alexander looked like and I blew up in his face. “I have answered your god damned questions twenty times already! I want to go see my sister! Now!” I demanded furiously.

He looked as if he wasn’t going to listen for half a second. I glared at him, hands on my hips waiting for him to decide. I figure the guy must have been married cause he threw his hands in the air in a sign of surrender at my pose. Without another word he led me to his patrol car and we were off to the hospital.

We arrived in record time. (Must have scared him more that I thought.) He brought me into the emergency room via the ambulance entrance. The officer left me only long enough to see were they brought Mandy and then he escorted me to where she was. Leaving me to wait outside the room he went in to see if it was okay for me to enter.

A few moments later he popped his head out the door to tell me that they were still working on her and that I would have to take a seat in the waiting room. “The doctor will come and see you as soon as she stable.” he assured me as he came out and led me down the hallway.

I took a seat in the waiting room and absently stared at the television that hung from the far wall. I was torn between staying to get word on Mandy and heading to the airport and getting my ass back to Boston. Eventually I realized that I had to stay where I was. Leaving her here alone would cause more trouble than me getting home would solve.

So I waited and waited some more. Eventually the doctor emerged from the emergency room door and motioned for me to come in. I jumped to my feet and bolted through the door after him. As he walked me towards one of the small cubicles the doubled as family counseling rooms, I tried to gage what he was going to tell me by the look on his face. His just looked tired which gave me no indication what so ever.

One inside the small brown walled cubicle he motioned for me to have a seat. Turning to pull a curtain across the entrance the doctor grabbed another chair. He sat down directly across from me. My heart was in my throat as I waited for him to speak.

“Miss David,” he finally began “your sister is going to be fine. We had to give her adrenalin shot in the heart to bring her around. I won’t lie to you it was very close. Because of the injection, we’re going to keep her here tonight for observation.”

“When can I see her?” I asked.

“As soon as we finish here I will bring you to her.” He replied “In a little while, once we are sure she’s ok we are going to be moving her upstairs to the security wing…”

“Security wing? Why is she going to the security wing?” I interrupted.

“The police have placed her under arrest for possession of heroin. After we release her, tomorrow morning probably they will be taking her into custody.” he answered. “In the mean time however she needs to remain as still as possible. She has a small hole in her heart now and we have to give it time to heal so the clot doesn’t dislodge and cause her other issues. When you go in there you’re going to need to stay clear of the bed. She can’t be bumped or jostled, so hugs or sitting on the bed with her ok?.”

‘Oh shit.’ “Okay. I understand. Can I see her now?”

He nodded his head and stood up. Opening the curtain, he motioned for me to follow him. Grabbing my coat off the back of the chair, I headed out after him. For someone that looked as tired as he did, he certainly walked quickly. It was all I could do to keep up with him. He stopped in front of the room where Mandy had been treated.

“Remember what I told you about not moving her.” he reminded me.

“I will remember to be carful.”

He stepped away from the entrance and walked off towards the big desk in the middle of the ER.

I watched him until he took a seat behind it, pulled out a pen and bent down apparently to fill out one form or another.

I quietly stepped into Mandy’s room. She was lying on a bed in the middle of it with all sorts on monitoring wires attached to her. She lifted her head and gave me a weary smile. Pulling a chair up next to the bed I grabbed hold her hand. “How are you feeling?”

In a small weak voice she answered “I’m feeling a bit sleepy.” She stared at me for a minute. “Oh Jake, why are you still here? You need to get away…before he finds you here.”

“He already knows I’m here.” I told her. “He was in your apartment when I got there. He told me that something was going to happen tomorrow, something bad for you and your family.”

“What’s going to happen?”

“He didn’t say exactly.”

She struggled to sit up a bit. “We need to get out of here.”

“Mandy the doctor told me that you couldn’t be moved for a while. They had to inject you in the heart. If you move around to much to blood clot could break free.”

“Jake! We need to get back to Boston and try to help my family.” She cried franticly.

I could tell that she wasn’t going to be dissuaded. “Okay. I just need to figure out how to get you out of here. The police have arrested you and are all over the place. So it’s not like we can just walk out the front door. Let me go have a quick look around. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

I walked out of her room and began to try to take in the layout of the place. In an attempt to not be obvious, I walked over to the main desk and asked where the ladies room was. While I waited for an answer, I looked at all the entrances to the ER. There were police everywhere.

The nurse behind the desk told me where to go and I headed off in the direction she’d indicated. I took my time and looked at every possible way that I might be able to get Mandy out of there.

By the time I arrived at the ladies room I had come to a single conclusion, we were screwed. Who was I kidding? I had no idea how to get her out of here. What am I, a friggen escape artist? We were going to need a miracle in order to escape.

A distraction, in the form of a tragedy is what we got.

I came out of the ladies room into complete chaos. There were stretchers everywhere. The doctors, nurses and heck even some of the police officers were running from gurney to gurney. As I turned the corner closest to the main desk, a couple of ambulance drivers burst into the room, each pulling a stretcher behind them. I moved quickly to avoid them and over heard one of the nurses saying something about a huge traffic accident on one of the local freeways.

The guard that had been outside of Mandy’s door was no where to be found. I bolted into the room. “Come we need to go, right now!” I told her as I pulled open her bag of clothing.

“What’s going on out there?”

“There was some kind of big accident. There are stretchers everywhere out there. If we get moving right now, we might be able to get away without being noticed.” I said and shoved her clothes at her.

As quickly as she could, Mandy got dressed. When she was ready, I stuck my head out the door. Everyone was still running around like crazy.

I grabbed Mandy’s hand and pulled her out the door. We headed off in the opposite direction of the ER and wound up at an elevator before too long. The seconds ticked by like hours as we waited for the doors to open. The whole time I was sure someone would find us and drag us off to the local police station.

When the doors finally opened we all but dove inside and hit the lobby button. The doors closed and we held our breath as we waited to see what would be waiting for us in the lobby.

Cautiously we stepped out and were quite happy to see it was all but deserted. Spying the main entrance we moved as quickly as we could get away with without arousing too much suspicion, in its direction. Just as we were pushing threw it, we heard the security alarms sound.

We bolted in the direction of the main parking area as fast as Mandy’s semi sedated condition would allow. I could hear voices behind us just as we turned the corner around the outer wall of the lot. There was a small woodsy hill on the other side of wall, about a hundred feet across, that led to another street at the back of the hospital. Seeing no alternative, we half ran/ half slid down it, almost landing in the middle of traffic on the street busy below.

I stood myself up and turned to pull Mandy to her feet. I could hear more shouting coming form the top of the small hill. I grabbed her hand again and practically dragged her down the street. The further away from the hospital we got the more certain that I became that our luck was going to run out and we were going to be caught.

We turned the corner and Mandy spied a sign for a bar room. Even though I knew it wasn’t the smartest idea, we ducked inside of it. Mandy had begun to complain about pain in her chest so I need to find somewhere she could catch her breath.

As we entered we were assaulted by a wall of cigarette smoke and the smell of stale beer. As we moved through the crowd I spied an open booth at the back of the room. I dragged Mandy towards it and sat and made her sit down. She breathed heavily and clutched at her chest continuously. I was scared she was going to up and die on me right then and there, but as we sat there for a minute, she seemed to get herself more under control.

I kept catching myself looking over my shoulder in the direction of the door every few seconds. I knew it looked suspicious but I was a nervous wreck and couldn’t stop myself from doing it. A waitress came over and asked us if there was anything we needed. In an attempt to blend in, as well as a pair of twins that had coming running in could, I ordered me a beer and Mandy some soda.

After she walked away, I looked over at Mandy and asked “Are you going to be alright?”

“I…I think so” she gasped.

Her pale completion had me worried. “We need to get a ride out of here! And fast!” I exclaimed in a hushed whisper.

The waitress arrived with our drinks. I paid her and absently watched her walk away. As she moved out of view, I noticed a couple rough looking guys staring in our direction. ‘If they have a car it will be worth it I suppose.’ I thought. To Mandy I said “Will you be okay alone for a minute? I need to see about a ride.”

She grunted “Yep.” as she took a deep gulp of her soda.

With my heart in my throat, I sauntered over to where they were sitting. Trying my hardest to walk the line between flirtation and desperation, I introduced myself to them. They were drunk as could be and smelled as if they hadn’t had a shower in at least the last six months. ‘God please let them have a convertible.’ I joked to myself dryly.

Putting on what I hoped was my sexiest smile, I said “Hi boys.”

“Well hello there purdy lady.” The larger of the two said.

 As we spoke the larger one, Randy, incessantly massaged the crotch of his pants. The smaller one, James, seemed to need to use the work fuck as an adjective preceding every other word that came out of his mouth.  Despite these small eccentricities, the pair did indeed have a car and were willing to give us a ride.

“Where y’all need to git too.” Randy asked.

“We need a ride to the airport. Our car broke down and we’re supposed to be leaving for Boston in a couple hours.”

“Well if we fucken give you a fucken ride to the fucken airport, like what the fuck do we get in fucken return for our fucken gas and our fucken time?” James asked.

Swallowing hard and knowing I would regret it I asked “Well what would you like?”

The both of them smiled like little kids on Christmas morning. “I’m sure we can discuss it on the way.” Randy said. “Now go git yor sister so we can git outta here.

I gave them a nervous smile and then went to collect Mandy. My every instinct was screaming at me not tot go with them, but we needed to get out of that neighborhood and at the moment they were the only chance we had.

I arrived back where I left Mandy to find her slumped over the table lightly snoring. If the situation hadn’t been so desperate, it would have been very funny. However things were desperate, so I roughly shook her shoulder.

“Mandy?” She just grumbled. I shook her harder. “Wakey, wakey sweet pea.”

“Wha? Come knock it off!” she complained.

“Come on Mandy, you need to wake up. I found us a ride outta here.”

“Huh? Oh Jake.”

“Yeah it’s me. Come on we need to go.”

“O … Ok, just give me a second.”

“No. We need to go right now.” I told her as I pulled her out of the booth and started walking back to where the boys were waiting.

About half way across the room all my hopes of escape died as the police burst through the door. They ordered everyone to get down on the floor. This of course didn’t sit well with some of the patrons, who began to shout obscenities at the officers. Others in the crowd must have one reason or another to not want to be searched by the men in blue and rushed the door.

It wasn’t long before the entire room was in total chaos. The police, in their zeal to search the place, apparently hadn’t taken the type of patrons that would be in such a place into consideration and quickly found themselves over whelmed.

Someone fired a gun and what had been chaos, degenerated into a panicked mob. Everyone in the place rushed for the door. It was all I could do to keep Mandy on her feet as the tide of bodies swept us towards the entrance. About ten feet shy of being swept into the street I managed to grab a set of car keys that I spied, off a near by table.

We were pushed out the door into the night. Somehow Mandy had maintained her balance the whole time. I looked at the key ring in my hand and was happy to see and alarm remote attached to it. As we scurried way from the mob scene I frantically pushed the button on the remote, praying that it would set off one of the cars in the direction we were headed in.

Unfortunately no lights flashed and no horns beeped. (Figures!) I just kept pushing the button though hoping in vain that it would work. Eventually I gave up and disgustedly threw them into a nearby sewer opening. We scurried back down the way we had originally come. Once we rounded the corner, I started looking for either a cab or pay phones too call one with.

We made it about a block when we spied a cab heading in our direction. I waved franticly as it came closer. The driver pulled to the curb in front of us. Opening the door, I shoved Mandy in the passengers’ side. Then I ran around to the drives side and told the driver to take us to the airport as I jumped in. The drive flashed a dubious look at Mandy through the rear view mirror before we sped off.

We arrived at the airport twenty five minutes later. While paying then driver, I tried to figure out if I had enough cash left to buy two plane tickets to Boston. While I didn’t think the police were going to be watching the airport and bus station for us, using a credit card wasn’t something I wanted to do unless it was absolutely necessary.

Scanning the departure board as soon as we arrived inside the terminal I found to my dismay that there were no flights leaving for Boston before 10am tomorrow. I was about to start looking for a nice solid wall to bang my head against when I noticed a fight going to Green airport in Providence RI would be departing in less than an hour.

I dragged Mandy over to a seat near the ticket counter. I wanted to keep any eye on her while I paid for our seats on the flight. On the drive over she had begun to complain about her chest again and I was really worried about her.

Being as late as it was the place was more or less deserted. Actually it was a minor miracle that the airline ticket agent was still open. As soon as Mandy was settled I hurried over to the counter. After telling the girl what flight I was looking to get on, she informed me that there were seats still available. When she told me how much the ticket were, however I thought I was going to faint.

I pulled my wallet out of my purse and began to count out the required amount. I handed the cash over to her as she raised an eyebrow in surprise. I held my breath as I waited for her to ask me for some identification. Much to my surprise she didn’t though. She simply handed me the tickets and told me which departure gate to go to.

We had a bit of time left before the plane took off so I went in search of a pay phone. Luckily it didn’t take long to find one. I plunked what was basically my last quarter into the slot and dialed 0. The operator came on and I gave her Anita’s number and asked to have the charges reversed.

As I heard the phone ringing on the other end, I tried to do the math to figure out what time it was at home. The sound of Jack’s groggy voice interrupted my calculation.

“Hi Jack,” I said cheerfully “it’s Amanda.”

“Amanda?” he said questioningly. “Oh, Amanda. What time is it?”

 “It’s really late,” I informed him. “I’m sorry to wake you, but is Anita there?”

Sounding a bit more awake, he said, “She’s sleeping. She has to get up early tomorrow and take your mother to the court house. Do you really need me to wake her?”

“Why is my mother going to court?” I asked him ignoring his question.

“Her lawyer got the hearing about the house moved up.”

“He did? What time is the hearing?” I inquired.

“Eleven o’clock tomorrow morning. Amanda it’s really late.” He complained. “Do you need me to wake her up or what?”

“No.” I answered absently and hung up. Eleven o’clock tomorrow morning?

 This was a problem. I tried to guestamate what time we would be arriving in Providence. The flight had a couple of lay over’s, so it was going to close.Not to mention the hours ride from the airport to Boston.

My train of thought was derailed by a boarding announcement for our flight. I walked over to where Mandy was waiting and had to wake her up again. ‘Poor kid.’ I thought as I found myself forced to shake the poor girl again. We walked over to the boarding area handed the girl our tickets and headed down the ramp to the plane.

Other than some turbulence over the Midwest and a very rowdy passenger that was thrown off the plane in Pittsburg the flight was uneventful. Mandy slept most of the flight, waking only when we landed for each stop. She had also stopped complaining about her chest, which left me hopeful that she would be alright.

 The wait to disembark was pure torture. It seemed that they were determined to let everyone off the plane except us. It occurred me to that perhaps the New Mexico police had tracked down and had the Rhode Island state police waiting for us inside the terminal. Thankfully that turned out to be just my imagination.

Once we made it inside the terminal our next problem was finding transportation up to Boston. It was just after 9:30am so none of the rental car places were open yet. Also Greene was a small airport and the other options available were limited to say the least. A consult with a cabbie outside the terminal left that route out of the financial question and a limousine certainly wasn’t going to be cheaper.

With an eye on the clock and no other choice I wandered around until I located ATM machine.  Finding one I put my card in and emptied my checking account. It wasn’t much, barely 100 dollars. I just hoped it was enough to get us a car.

A quick walk back to the rental desk resulted in a somewhat longer wait for them to finally open. At exactly ten o’clock the girl stepped to the desk and asked if she could help me. I rapidly explained my situation and my serious lack of funds. She turned to her computer and went over the on site inventory, looking for something in my price range.

The smile on her face made my hopes rise. “I do have one that I can give you for $89.99. There is tax on the rental but I can put in that it is owed when you drop it off.”

“That would be great!” I exclaimed.

 She printed up the paperwork for me to fill out and started setting up her side of the agreement. I wrote as fast as I could. Several minutes later I handed her the completed paper work. She scanned it quickly as I checked my watch for the one hundredth time. Finally she handed me the keys.

I yelled a thank you over my shoulder as I pulled Mandy off the chair she was waiting in. We hauled ass across the rental parking lot looking for the tan colored Ford Focus™. After several minutes we located the car and hopped in.

 It was certainly the least luxurious car I had ever been in. That included my old buddy Mikes 72 Dodge Dart™. Luckily neither of us had very long legs so we were actually capable of driving the thing.

I turned the ignition and the squirrel on a treadmill sized engine sputtered to life. A waft of smoke in the rearview mirror caught my attention. I looked over my shoulder to make sure the rear end wasn’t on fire. It wasn’t. I gave the engine a quick rev and the smoking abated.

Another check of my watch showed it to be just north of 10:30 am. We had approximately thirty minutes to make one hour journey. And that’s with no traffic! I gunned the engine one more time and felt it smooth out. Putting it in drive we took off like a rocket out of the lot. Ok it was a slow rocket but still it was a fast as the Piece of shit would go.

 After a few minutes of navigating the access roads we hit Rt.95N. Fortunately traffic was light and we quickly left the city behind us. I checked my watch again. Time was going by way to fast. I increased my speed and heard the engine protest to my decision.

Mandy looked over at me and sarcastically asked “What are you trying to do? Break the sound barrier or something?”

“In this thing? I seriously doubt it, but we need to get there!” I replied.

“I understand that, but I’d like to get there in one piece.”

Ignoring her complaints I pushed the pedal even harder. Within minutes we crossed the state border into Massachusetts. Traffic through the small border towns was even lighter than it had been in Providence. I pushed the accelerator to the floor as the engine signaled it’s unhappiness with me by sending up a new plume of smoke.

 By ten minutes to eleven we had made to Rt.93. That however was the end of our high speed drive. Traffic was horrendous. With my horn blaring I shifted futilely from lane to lane, trying to gain some measure of speed. The handful of miles crept by in direct opposition to the speed with which the clock ticked off the minutes.

 We arrived at the court house a bit after 11:30. Our hearts were in our throats as parked in a near by garage and ran to the building. We flew up the many steps leading to the front. Without stopping to catch our breath, we burst through the heavy oak front doors.

As we went through the security check point I heard a familiar sounding voice to my right. I looked over to see Rita’s lawyer Phil arguing with someone I had never seen before.

Grabbing Mandy’s hand, I hurried over to where he stood. “Phil!” I yelled trying to get his attention.

He looked in my direction. The look of irritation on his face was quickly replaced with one of confusion as he saw the two of us approach him. “Amanda?” What th…”

Before I could say a word to him the sound of gunfire emitted from the court room behind him. “What the hell was that?” Mandy yelled as the four of us ran through the door.

Once we entered the court room there before our eyes stood Mia Blue with a gun in her hand. On the floor next to her was the bleeding form of a court officer. Paul, along with Rita and Anita were at the front of the room, though on opposite sides. She was screaming at Paul.

“You destroyed me! You bastard. You’re the one that had the great idea of blackmailing your daughter into not testifying against you! And I’m the one that pays the price! Well not anymore!” she screeched and she fired a shot in his direction.

He was luckier than he deserved. The shot went very wide right of him hitting the far corner of the jury box. He looked frantic as he tried to duck behind the over turned table to his left. She fired again, this time coming much closer to hitting him.

Behind me, I thought I heard the faint sound of cackling. Something told me it was Alexander enjoying the show.

 Mia fired again.

 There was no time for any other consideration. I let out a loud howl to get her attention as I lunged at her.

 Time seemed to slow to a crawl as I flew through the air.

 At the sound of my voice Mia turned my way. She pulled the gun up and let go another round. I felt something tug at my abdomen. She fired again but this one never came near me. I landed on her hard, driving my shoulder into her as hard as I could. We land with an audible thud on the gallery floor. Her head cracked against the hard wooden surface as the gun slid from her grasp.

 I lay there on the floor for a moment, trying to catch my breath as I heard voices shouting. My stomach felt like I had been stuck with a hot poker. I opened my eyes to see the court officers pinning Mia to the floor just a couple feet away from me. I felt someone gather me up against them. I looked up to see it was Mandy.

 “Is everyone okay?” I croaked.

 “Yes everyone is fine. You’re lucky she missed.”

 “She didn’t.”

I tried to speak more but a bolt of pain shot through me. I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment. When I opened them again Anita and Rita were standing over me too. They look completely confused.

 Mandy moved my hand and gasped at the amount of blood covering it. She yelled for someone to call an ambulance. I tried to sit up but couldn’t summon the energy.

Mandy put her face right in front of mine and said “Don’t you die on me.”

I gave her the best smile I could manage and gasped “tryin not to” as another surge of pain shot through me.

I was lying to her. Having already died once I knew what it felt like. “Look if I don’t make it tell the police that I was the one that they are looking for. Okay?”

“What do you mean if you don’t make it?” Mandy cried. “Please Jake I need you.”

“Jake?” I heard Rita say.

Things began to get fuzzy around the edges. I closed my eyes again and heard the sound of Mandy’s voice. She sounded so far away that I couldn’t tell what she was saying. The pain in my abdomen began to fade as the darkness at the edge of my vision began to close in on me. I closed my eyes one last time.

 I opened them again to the sight of Alexander standing over me. “Wha?” was all I could get out as he jerked me up.

“You!” he screamed. “Do you know what you’ve cost me?!”

 He held me by the throat. I struggled to free myself, but he was much too strong. He laughed and threw me down.

 “Am…am I dead?” I coughed.

 His face was in mine again before I even saw him move. “Yes! And you’re going to suffer for robbing me of my prize! I worked a long time set them up and you had to come along and fuck things up on me! You will be the very definition on suffering when I get through with you!”

 He stood and reached down towards me, but the stopped. A bright light began to fill the space we were in.

“NO! This one is mine!” he screamed defiantly.

 The light centered on me and he backed away somewhat. I looked up into the brightness and heard a beautiful voice calling to me. I got to my feet as the intensity increased and Alexander screamed impotently. Finally I could hear him no more.

 I seemed to float in the light for quiet a while. It filled my entire universe and I was at peace. Finally a voice spoke.

 “You have done well my daughter.” The voice seemed to come from everywhere and no where at the same time.

“I…I did?”

 “Yes. Alexander and his machinations are not easy to defeat.”

“Defeat? He was my test?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t understand. How did I defeat him?”

“It is Alexander’s desire to corrupt all that can be. By bringing Amanda back and stopping Paul from being killed, you gave them the opportunity to change their ways, thus allowing them the potential for salvation. In the end they may fail, but as it stands now he no longer has any claim to them.”

“And Pat?”

 “She is here where she belongs.” I felt the voice smile. “You are wondering about your soul.”

 “Yes.” ‘Guess some things never will change.’

“You still have much to atone for, but you have made a good start.”

The End?

Ok so this is the end, or is it? With any luck we can, hopefully, look forward to Karma book two sometime in early 2007.

I’d like to say thank you to everyone that has taken the time to read my little tail. You’re comments and encouragements have meant a lot to me. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading it as much as I have writing it.

                                 Amanda D.                            

 

  since 5/08/06