Wicked Girl (THE FIRE Book 1) Read online

  “But you see my point. If El had a job that brought home say three grand, you would be…I don’t know girl,” Mila said. “You would be a fashion queen. Probably, a pacesetter since you have a great body. Look at this girl…hmmm, what’s her name? Diana. Yeah, Diana.”

  “The one in the finance department.”

  “Exactly. Look, she affords designer wear but nobody notices because she doesn’t have a delicious body. Even facially she –”

  I plastered my hand on her mouth. “Gossip. A big no, please.”

  Mila laughed. “But –”

  “No, no. No gossip please.” I stared at her eyes.

  “Friend, I hate that look. Usually, it comes with disappointment for me,” Mila said, shaking my left hand.

  “Not really, friend. I’m just mixed up. You know, after Chloe was gone Elijah told me he loves me – in what – I don’t know in how many months. I almost screamed. But to give you a picture, I can say I had a busy weekend. I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m pregnant as we speak.”

  Mila frowned. “That was not the plan. I’m disappointed, friend. We agreed you would starve him for a year or two if need be.”

  I gazed at her eyes. “I’m disappointed too. I thought you would be happy for me.”

  “Happy for what? That you made me a fool. I’m sitting here helping you cut your man to size, but you go home and have sex with him. I’m the fool here and you are enjoying life with your man. You know what? Never borrow even a cent from me. I’m trying to help, but you fooled me.”

  “Friend, it’s not like I took you for a fool. I did everything you said. Look, I even forgot about taking the pill because it’s been ages since I allowed him to touch me. That’s why I told you I might be preg.” I put both elbows on the table and gazed at her eyes. “Mila, I’ve been listening to everything you told me. That’s why my love life turned sour and boring. If Elijah wasn’t a faithful person, he would have left me long ago because I was listening to your sermons. The more I applied them, the worse my life became. I told you, but you said, ‘That’s expected, it has to become worse before it gets better.’ But you know what the problem is? The better things seemed to be drifting away by the second. One thing I saw coming yonder was a divorce. Yes, a divorce, Elijah even mentioned it for the first time in our marriage.”

  “He did?”

  “Of course, what do you expect if you made me such a bore to him?”

  Mila jerked to her feet and screamed. “I made you? I made you? We were in this together. I was helping you!”

  I sprang up. “Lower your voice. Sit down. We’re at work. What’s wrong with you?”

  “Sit down for what? I’m leaving now.”

  I grabbed her right hand when she took the nail polish. “Friend, I’m sorry. Please sit down.”

  She stared at my eyes with snake eyes for a long time. Then she sat down slowly.

  “Friend, I’m so sorry if I was harsh. But what I’m trying to say is El is a decisive man. Once he decides he has had enough of the drama you make me create, that would be it. It would be over. My marriage would be over. And, baby girl, that man never reverses his decisions. I’m telling you, he never does. I guess your theories work on weaker men.”

  “Weak men?” She shook her head, frowning. “You take me for a fool, Grace? Weak men?”

  “Yeah, I guess it works on weak men, really. What else can I say? El is such a hard nut to crack. That’s why I love him anyway.”

  My cell phone beeped twice. A message was coming in. I took it and read: “Grace, I know the police will call you, but as your church-mate, your sister in the Lord, I thought I should tell you before you get this news the bad way. I saw it with my eyes. Elijah has been shot three times: in the arm and in the head. I’m so sorry. God –”

  The cell phone dropped on the desk. The office spun and shuddered like an earthquake had struck. Dimly, I saw Mila screaming, running around the table. I felt her hand touch my neck. She scre –

  DAY 5

  ELIJAH

  Saturday, January 21, 2017

  4:09 AM

  As usual, my right hand ran between the warm, fluffy comforter and sheets, trying to get hold of my sweetheart, but it reached the edge of the bed without finding her. My eyes popped open in the dark bedroom. My stomach clenched. “My God!”

  I promptly sat up on the bed, leaning on the headboard, feeling the sorrow spread from my heart to assume its position in my mind. I swallowed a stale portion of saliva in my mouth and wiped the drool on my cheeks and beard. “O God!”

  Back to square one. I had been fooled by a sweet-for-nothing dream. I slapped my bed ample times. Grace was not coiled up on my lap on the couch in her bluish, animal print sundress. And we were not sipping pineapple juice from one glass with one straw, debating when and where we had our first kiss. I had said it was in her college dormitory, on a Saturday evening. But she claimed it was during our high school prom night.

  The ticking wall watch downstairs did its best to distract me, so I stared at one spot on the wall, allowing the reality that Grace was still missing sink in again. She wasn’t on my lap; she was still missing. I felt irritable like I would vomit at any moment.

  My hand ran through my hair and then fumbled for my cell phone on the sideboard. It was still dark but I was afraid I overslept. 4:14. Not too bad. Yes, I had targeted 3:30, so I could pray for an hour before I began my audacious day.

  I sighed, surprised I got such good sleep. I even dreamed my desperate wish. When the ordeal began, I had driven myself to believe a lie that I would never get some sleep until Grace was back home.

  The day I was shot and killed crossed my mind and left me motivated to find Grace alive. It was more than four years ago but I couldn’t wrap it around my head how she believed in me whilst dead. The doctors and nurses thought she had lost her mind when she refused to transfer my body from the ward to the morgue. She believed I would be back. It had been hours since my soul had pushed up my body and swiftly went out through my mouth, leaving it wide open and my eyes bulging, but she believed. My pupils and irises had disappeared, only the sclera gazed at them, but she believed.

  The nurse who was with me when I died frowned at the heart monitor as it changed the beep sound to the dreaded flat sound, and the zig zag to a straight line. She screamed, running all over.

  Suddenly, I was not subject to gravity but I hovered over my body. When the other nurses and doctors flooded the ward that looked misty, I rose and hovered close to the ceiling. They shocked my body with a defibrillator. My body did shake, but I didn’t go back into it. It looked very filthy.

  They took turns, shocking it. Life never came back.

  Amazingly, it felt nice to be out of the body. I felt powerful and light like I could conquer the world alone. Even hovering over the doctors and nurses’ heads was easy. I moved with my thoughts. But I avoided looking at my body for it looked like a filthy, rotten bag. It stunk. Each time I looked at it I would quickly look away. It was an awful site. Even the doctors and nurses’ bodies looked filthy, but not as the dead one.

  They never got tired of resuscitating me. But I also didn’t wish to be in that body ever again. I went straight to the door, but it was closed. So I moved out through the small window that led to the hallway. I turned left and went up. Still, I maintained the close proximity to the ceiling since there were dozens of people in the hallway. Their bodies looked filthy too, so I avoided looking down.

  When I passed at the reception, I stopped. I had to. Grace was sitting there with my little Kim and Leon, hopeful the doctor would bring a positive report that I was stable and there were great chances of recovery. But nothing like that was coming, only the worst a wife could ever hear. I felt extremely bad for them.

  But what surprised me was that even Grace looked filthy. The beauty and glow I appreciated every day weren’t there. I flew out of the hospital and straight up, as if there was a force up yonder, beyond the bright sun and clouds pulling me gently. It was l
ike the force of gravity was reversed, like it was pulling upwards.

  I saw a few others who had just left their bodies being heaved up like me. But there were many that wandered around with no force pulling them. Instead, some ugly beings that looked like dead, rotten men chased them around.

  I passed the clouds and headed straight up. At some point, the place became extremely dark. That’s when I noticed that my way was made of fire. And it formed in front of me and closed behind me as if it were prepared for me only. The higher I went the darker and scarier it became. It was near impossible to see anything.

  On both sides of the way, there were lots of ugly, roaring beasts. Some glared at me with angry eyes. They increased in ugliness and size as I went up. But I wasn’t scared anymore. I had noticed that they feared the way I was walking on. Besides the path of the fire, I also glowed like a big, yellowish-bluish lamp. Those with a few eyes covered them as I passed. Those with many eyes turned completely and faced the other way.

  One thing that troubled my soul and crushed my heart were the continuous, frantic cries of anguish from somewhere behind the scary beasts. Men, women, boys, and girls never ceased to scream for help. Their cries were the only form of music in the entire realm. The place also stunk like a morgue with no electricity.

  At some point, I learned that the beings gave way when I approached. Otherwise, they closed the way to heaven completely. “Thank you, my Lord, for everything. Thank you for the way home. But I still can’t believe I’m dead, and it’s all over,” I prayed, gazing at the scary beasts all around me. I had never seen anything like them – not even in scary movies or zombie movies or vampire movies. They were scary beyond human imagination. Some resembled walking dead men with many eyes, long dirty fingers, long tongues, and filthy long hair. Some of those men were abnormally tall and some abnormally short. Also, there were scorpions, spiders, snakes, black cats and owls that were as big as a huge house. Some of them had human heads. But the devils that drew my attention the most were the huge dragons with several heads. They flew all over the place. When each of them flew, there was thunder and lightning. The place even shook like there was an earthquake.

  Suddenly, I was engulfed by an abnormally bright light. Everything flipped. I found myself in a completely different place. A place brighter than the sun covered with glittering green fields and sweet flowers.

  I was heaved more forcefully to what looked like a big glowing gate at a distance. It looked like it was made of lightning. Explosive sounds like reverberating thunder surrounded it.

  A big giant was at the gate. The bluish glow of his body made him beautiful, but it was hard to look at him. He was too bright and his presence produced intense heat that made my soul boil and the golden road to heat up my feet. I even imagined how hot he was if he made gold boil.

  He received the dozens and dozens of saints with the help of many glowing white angels.

  Later, I forced myself to stare at him as he talked with the saints before me. His voice was big and scary. I was terrified when I thought I would also have to talk to him when my turn came.

  The beauty of the gate, the golden road, and the glowing angel made me long to go in and see the heaven I spent all my life preaching about. And the awesome combination of the nice scents, like thousands of perfumes, was sprayed in the air made me crave to see God Himself. I was extremely joyful.

  When he had finished allowing the other saints in, he raised his eyes and gazed at my eyes. His vision penetrated my soul and heart like I was a transparent glass. I felt like thousands of lions were staring at me. I forgot everything. Even my name.

  “Elijah Turner. A righteous servant of the Lord God,” he said with his thunderous voice. It was like a strong wind had spoken to me. “You are welcome to the eternal dwellings the Lord prepared for the holy ones. But you have not finished your assignment on earth. Hurry up, they are about to take your body to the morgue. Even your wife, son, and daughter are crying.”

  “My Lord, but –”

  “Don’t call me Lord. I’m a servant of the Lord like you.”

  “Oh. I’m very sorry. But I don’t want to go back to that filthy body.”

  “The Lord has said it and you must do it.”

  “Amen,” I said and turned back, feeling bad I would not see the inside of heaven anytime soon. But I consoled myself that I would make my wife, son, mom, relatives, and friends happy.

  However, I felt sour again when I moved from the bright place to the dark one. Again, the way of fire formed and disappeared as I walked.

  When I was halfway in the darkness I was attacked by four dragons, roaring like gigantic lions. Two of them had faces of beautiful young women and the other two had faces of handsome men.

  They formed a ferocious storm and continuously tried to strike me with lightning. However, the lightning would lose its power before reaching me. The place shook and rocks exploded on the mountains; waters gushed everywhere. Later, they flew towards me, roaring. But still, they couldn’t reach me. They feared the fire I was walking on and the one I was myself. Eventually, I learned that they knew they couldn’t attack me. They were trying to scare me back to heaven. They obviously preferred me in heaven than on earth.

  They stopped their attacks when I approached the earth. Again, the darkness faded and the sun took over. However, heaven had spoiled my eyes. The sunlight looked like candle light to me. I even laughed at the sun. It wa –

  “My God!” I threw the cell phone on the bed and hastened to the front window. I was relieved; the streetlights were still on and bright enough for me to see that the footprints on the snow were still the ones Chloe, Kimberly, and I made the previous day. Grace had obviously not walked back home. Tears warmed up my eyes. I used the back of my hand to wipe them. I was scared. I couldn’t stomach the other side of reality. Yes, we were all praying she would come back home safe and sound. But what if I was only called for a body? A real one this time. What if I had to get a loan to prepare for her funeral? What if I had to disclose to Kimberly that she would never see her mom again? What if…? What if…?

  Surprised by the acuteness and severity of the pain in my heart, I switched on the lights and put my pain in my journal:

  --Saturday, January 21, 2017--

  * What will I do to make the pain go away forever? It has been days but it’s still comfortably settled within me. Is there anything that shall end it before it ends me?

  I walked to the eastern window and gazed at Karen’s house and yard. Her home was still quiet like the entire neighborhood. Even my mind was quiet, unfortunately. It wasn’t teeming with smart ideas like last night. I slept thinking and feeling exactly like a super cop. A detective who would thwart Karen and her evil plans at the drop of a hat. I was sure I would have made it into her house by six to start gathering info. But now – I wasn’t sure. I couldn’t even think of anything that could make Karen drive out with her kids on a weekend. Unless, I came up with a plan. Waiting for her to drive out could be a time catalyst. She could decide not to leave the house for a week. Then what?

  I took my cell phone from the bed and searched for her number. But I didn’t even know why I searched for it. Calling her for any reason was a bad, bad idea. In fact, it was stupid.

  I walked back to the eastern window, trying to think of anything that could drive her out immediately. But nothing clean came to mind. Only lies flooded my mind. But lying was not my cup of tea. I couldn’t call her and tell her that her ex-husband or mom or whoever had been hit by a bus. I couldn’t grab one of her kids from the yard and pretend she had been kidnapped. I needed something clean and smart.

  I dressed up and pulled myself downstairs, wishing Chloe was still in the bedroom. I needed to eat breakfast whilst thinking deeply. No small talk.

  Luckily, there was no one in the kitchen but I could tell Chloe had been there a few minutes ago. She must have risen very early, prepared my breakfast and went back to sleep. All was set on the table. I sat down and helped myself
to the muffins and coffee.

  I took the third muffin but my hand froze before I took a bite. I swallowed some saliva and put the muffin back to the side plate. A crazy, crazy idea had crossed my mind that I had to go to Karen’s house whilst they were inside – but before they woke up.

  I chewed the inside of my cheek. My intestines became cold. Yes, I needed the facts now, but how could I search Karen’s house without being heard or seen. I looked at the window and saw that the darkness was fading.

  I hurried to Karen’s house.

  However, the worry was eating me up inside. I kept asking myself what if the message brought by the angel a few days earlier had to do with guiding me in the investigation. But surely, I wouldn’t try to recall it now. I had tried, but all those efforts proved futile. It slipped out of my head in its entirety, yet, I hadn’t written it.

  4:57 AM

  I closed the door quietly even though my hands shivered. It had squealed when I opened it, so I had to close it with extra caution. The kitchen, the entire house was dead quiet. Karen and her kids were still sleeping. Only the horrible odor of stale fish reprimanded me for entering her house. The outside lights and streetlights leaking through the window permitted me to realize the piles of dirty dishes like little mountains on the table and sink. Some were even on the floor. Crumbs of all sorts stabbed my feet and made me feel them again. Walking barefoot on the snow had turned them into two blocks of lifeless glass.

  I took my first step comforted there was enough sound to make my sneaking even more soundless. Her wall watch in the dining room was as loud as mine. Even the fridge hummed satisfactorily.

  I proceeded to the dining room making sure I kicked nothing in my way. But I had to stop after taking a few steps. My feet were leaving prints on the floor since they were wet due to the snow and dew. Promptly, I searched for tissues in my pockets but there was none. I took my jacket off and used it to wipe my feet and the footprints on the floor. I put the jacket back on and sneaked to the dining room, hating my jacket. I couldn’t help but imagine it covered with crumbs of who knows what.