THE SECOND SIGHT
Chapter 55
The trees were many and bordered almost all the streets. There were pristine parks, patrolled by uniformed cops who seemed to wear fixed plastic smiles on their faces.
I wondered idly whether it came with the job down here – all the cops I had seen so far seemed to be grinning all the time. This area too seemed planned – too perfect and beautiful – and it seemed to be the safest part of town.
Its lack of blemish was its major imperfection, and again I found myself distrusting and hating it.
Sleek cars lined the curb. Over-dressed teenagers looking prim and proper lolled about. Soft lights were already showing in the windows and on the porches.
Dull, listless, routine – a town to hate, and a neighborhood to detest.
With a strong effort I checked the train of my thoughts.
It wouldn’t do at all for the depression to set in again.
I followed Nicole’s directions like an automaton, and although I felt her eyes drilling rather sharply at me now and again, I couldn’t shake myself out of the dark moods caressing my heart.
I crested a knoll, and as the car straightened out of the gentle descent and a wide arc in the road the sign loomed out at me suddenly; hu-ge, bold blue lettering on a white background:
Christ Redeemed Church
Portville
General Headquarters
You Are Warmly Welcome!
THE ARRIVAL
And there it was; spread out on a wide expanse of gra-ss.
It was a hu-ge, flat edifice, so white that it almost hurt the eyes. It wasn’t as grand as my old man’s church, but its sheer elegance and the air of peace it exuded greatly impressed me.
There were no walls, and there were other buildings on the land, spread out nicely around the church. The car park was jammed with vehicles.
NICOLE
There’s a smaller road on your right just ahead, Yaw…yes, right here! That leads to the mission house. My family is right there!
I could faintly hear loud music coming out of the church; a praise medley of some sorts.
The people outside the church room were dancing rather insanely on the gra-ss, throwing up their hands and staring with fevered adoration into the rapidly darkening sky as if they could see the angels descending from heaven.
Fanatics for Christ.
They were everywhere. A few days ago I would have had nothing but absolute disdain for them. Not now, though.
If shouting and screaming and offering absolute devotion to a Supreme Being above could keep the uglies from their doorsteps, then it was worth every little second of it.
The road I had taken swerved away from the main church premises.
It was bordered on both sides by tall trees. The dry leaves crackled beneath the wheels as I eased the hu-ge car forward gently.
The trees suddenly gave way to a breathtaking view of a lake. It spread out gently, its surface glittering with the night lights.
A stone bridge ran over it, and on its opposite side were more gra-ss, and a beautiful two-story building.
The house was spectacular, its beauty enhanced by the wide expanse of very green gra-ss all around it, and the majestic fold mountains way back behind it, rising from the ground and towering above the trees.
The house was white and not walled in.
There were balconies on each side of the upper building, and the view from there across the lake, on a cool lazy night, would be rather fetching indeed.
It had tall double mahogany doors at the head of a beautiful marble staircase.
Two cars were parked in front of it: a fairly new GMC van and a beautiful Lexus.
I parked my Chrysler next to the Lexus and killed the engine.
BOAT
(with unfeigned admiration)
This is beautiful.
NICOLE
(coolly)
Welcome to the Manse. I’m glad you like it.
I turned to her, drawn by something in her voice.
The frost had melted, and the wall that had sprung up unwanted between us was down for the moment. There was a hint of a smile on her li-ps that transformed that awesome beauty into something ethereal.
I stared at her, entranced, but before I could speak the hu-ge doors opened, and we both turned toward it.
I was aware of a sweet moment gone.
I wondered what would have happened if we hadn’t been distracted, but then again I was a little bit happy that our mood had been broken. The lady was a successful woman, older than I was, and totally devoted to another man.
All that added up to a war not worth fighting.
I was suddenly aware of something dark hurtling toward the car, and my reverie quickly cleared.
My heart had already started pounding ha-rd as I focused, sure that I was seeing one of the damn apparitions.
But it was just a dog.
Quite simply, it was the biggest dog I had ever seen.
It was completely black with a white head. It was a well-kept dog, I saw at first glance. Its body was ha-rd all over with little fat, and it could easily have weighed two hundred pounds.
It was a Saint Bernard, and it glided with smooth grace over the gra-ss, black eyes fixed on the car, tail waving slowly, ears perked up.
I was aware of Nicole getting out of the car and dropping to her knees as the hu-ge beast rushed at her.
For a wild moment I thought it was going to knock her flat out, but it pulled in and began a kind of silly dance, bending itself into a ti-ght arc and moving rhythmically sideways, all the time wagging its hu-ge tail like mad.
I breathed with relief and got out of the car.
For a moment my eyes left the beautiful lady and the dog and settled on the two people who were coming down the marble steps.
Also read – The Second Sight – Episode 29
One was a tall thin boy of about fifteen; he bore an uncanny resemblance to Paul Anderson, and I knew that this could be his second child.
He was dressed in baggy jeans and a hu-ge white T-shirt that had a picture of Jesus sitting beside a rou-gh-surfaced rock and staring piously into the sky.
Below that picture were the words: “He saved my life.”
As I got out of the car my eyes went to the woman on the steps.
She had just stepped out of the door, and she was looking at me intensely. I knew immediately where Nicole had gotten her extraordinary good looks.
Even though she was well past her prime the woman exuded sculptured grace and beauty. She was wearing a long white dress, and her hair, still with a lot of dark patches, was gathered up in a bun.
The lines on her face could not have marred that dreamlike beauty had it not been the fact that she could hardly hide the fear in the depths of her eyes.
As she gazed at me I could sense the despondent cry in her heart, as if she was utterly disappointed by my appearance.
I thought I knew where she was coming from.
Judging by what Nicole had told me about Paul Anderson, this fine woman could have been expecting a savior, someone with an almost visible halo who could help her husband.
A young guy like me had definitely not been what she had expected. And of course she couldn’t hide her true feelings as she gazed at me.
She was a good woman, a pillar of strength that had encompa-ssed her family and kept it safe. She was a loving wife who had always been able to keep her husband out of the wind, but now that ti-ght control was threatened.
Her man was in a storm, whatever it might be, and she could only gaze helplessly at me with her heart written on her face.
Somehow, as I looked at her, fear filled my heart. It was the same kind of crippling fear that a-ssailed me when I entered Portville.
Looking at her I could feel her reaching out for support, pinning hopes on me, and de-eper down I knew I could fail her and her family.
I didn’t know what exactly was wrong with Paul Anderson to cause the kind of drastic change Nicole had described to me, but inwardly I knew what it was.
It was all kind of confusing, a suffocating kind of experience that was threatening to drown me; on a physical plain I didn’t know what was going on, but inwardly, on a different level of existence, I
knew what was happening, and recognized it as a potent evil.
It was like some form of a strange antennae that kept on beating within my soul, probing, recognizing signs and scents, separating the darkness from the light, the good from the deadly.
I knew…and I was scared.
A weight hit my back, and I would certainly have fallen over if the young boy had not reached out and steadied me.
The giant dog reared up and planted its front paws on my che-st, making funny whining noises in its throat and wagging its tail like crazy.
The young boy spoke with a happy giggle.
BOY
Bruno wants a pat on the head. He’s really fond of that.
I looked into its black eyes and noticed how hu-ge its canines and incisors were.
Tentatively I patted its head, and it lic-ked my hand furiously and wagged its tail
TBc….