Broken (Endurance) (12 page)

Max and Mei looked at each other in confusion.

"Uriel, hello handsome," she said, gently rubbing Uriel's back while his father held him. She looked at the apprehensive parents. "My name is Mrs. Julie and I will be your son's personal caregiver."

Julie was a natural and Uriel seemed to instantly like her. His face lit up and he offered her a smile reserved only to those he trusted.

"Now, does he have any allergies or anything I should know about?" Mrs. Julie asked, putting her hands out for Uriel who quickly threw his body towards her.

Max and Mei were shocked almost speechless as they struggled to respond to her questions.

"No," Mei mumbled.

"Good, now run along. You guys will be late for class. If there’s an emergency you will be contacted immediately."

Uriel clung to her, his eyes wide with awe of his caregiver.

"Tell mama and dada, see you later. She lifted his hand to wave goodbye to a shocked Max and Mei.

Mrs. Julie turned and walked away with their son and he didn't even look back. Mei covered her mouth with her hands, battling her emotions. "Did you see that? He didn't even look back."

"I know," Max said, holding the door open for Mei.

"I carried that boy for nine months and I don't even get so much as a whimper."

"How do you think I feel?"

"Max, we are horrible parents.  Our son just ditched us for some other momma." 

"Come here," Max said with a short laugh as he pulled Mei close to offer a reassuring hug. "See everything has its silver lining. I haven't been this close to you in, well, since forever. I miss you."

"I miss you, too." Mei said as they began to walk to class.

"So, where are we going?" Max looked around them.

"Well, we have spiritual warfare today.  I don't know what it's about, but it’s for the entire day."

It was easy to find their class. The spiritual warfare class was held in its own free standing building by the edge of the forest. Class was already in session when they quietly entered and sat at the back of the room.

Professor Adam Boyd stood at the front of the class lecturing about spiritual warfare. He talked about how to keep your temple demon free. Everyone was quiet. Many people were hearing these teachings for the first time. Professor Boyd called the attention of all the male students.

"Now, some of you are already married and some of you are engaged. Then we have our single freshman boys. I will be pairing you off into groups. This year we are trying something new by opening up our campus to young families. This may become difficult at times, however we understand that

God uses everyone and nothing happens before it's time. I hope everyone can learn from each other," Professor Boyd said.

He paced the large room speaking through a small microphone that was attached to his head. He cleared his throat and continued.  "Now, in this project we will learn how to build a village from scratch; a real, full-functioning village. This village will serve as a family dormitory. The space is limited and we will only build twenty huts. Each group will be given an allotted plot of land to build the hut for their family or group." At this he stopped to acknowledge the many hands that flew up at the mention of only twenty huts.

After a quick glance around the class, Professor Boyd pointed to Renee, seated only a few seats down from Max and Mei.

"Professor, do we pick our own partners?" she asked. She was already making plans on how she could become Max's partner.

"No and yes. You request your own partner, if you are single. As for the young families, there will be one hut per family."

"Professor, will it be coed or not?" another student asked.

"The only coed huts will be the family huts."

"Will we all be in the village?"

Everyone followed the student’s gaze as he swept across the two hundred students in attendance.

"Not quite.  Since space is limited, I have a sign-up sheet for those of you who want to stay in the village full time and those of you who want to stay part time. For the ten young families, you will be there full time."

Groans filled the room. Max looked at Mei and chuckled. "We already survived hell out there."

Mei smiled and slipped her hand in his.

The professor answered a few more questions before continuing on. "I will call the families to the front first, one at a time. I would like to see the fathers come up and collect these envelopes that contain all the information you will need, including the location of your property. I want you to head straight out and get to work. Next, I will call the full time volunteers and then the part time."

Max waited anxiously for his name to be called. After getting their envelope, they found their property.  It was a beautiful location, up on a hill overlooking the ocean. The trees gave them much shade and the cool breeze coming off the ocean made it feel cool and relaxing. They could see other couples walking around their respective plots of land, many of them already arguing over how to handle the situation.

Max sat on the ground and began to go through the envelope. He found the instructions to build a two-room bamboo hut with a living room, kitchen and bathroom area. Growing slightly nervous as he went through the complex plans, Max relaxed when he learned they would have professionals install a fully functional bathroom.

"What does it say?" Mei asked, sitting next to him.

"I hope you’re ready for this," Max said, looking at Mei.

"Why, is it that bad?"

"Well, yes and no. We, or I, have to build this house from scratch and so far the only help I see is the maintenance crew that will install our plumbing. See that large stack of bamboo and stuff? We have to build our hut out of that," Max informed Mei.

Undeterred, Mei stood.  "Okay, let’s do it."

"Eager, aren't we?" Max said, a tad surprised by her enthusiasm.

"Hey, I don't know about you, but last night was horrible."

Max stood up and dusted himself off. He walked up behind Mei who was now looking over the stack of bamboo, and slid his hands around her waist. "It was the worst night since we’ve been married."

"So then we're on the same page."

"Yeah, but I don't think we can do it all today."

"I know," Mei sighed. “But we can at least…”

"Hello, neighbor!" Renee called out as she made her way to them.

Mei rolled her eyes. This girl made her blood curl and she didn't know why.

Max smiled at Renee. "Where are you going to be?" He asked hoping she would be at the opposite end of the village.

"I'm right next to you." Renee smiled triumphantly and walked away.

Max could feel the shift in Mei's mood.  She went stiff and her eyes hardened as she tried to pull away from him. "Oh no, no, no. Stay in my arms a bit longer. I just want to hold you."

"Max, something about that girl rubs me the wrong way." Mei turned to face him.

"Screw her. I only want you." He leaned in to kiss her.

Mei looked off in the direction Renee had taken and nodded with a complete lack of conviction.  "Yeah,” she muttered vaguely.  “Can we just start building this thing, then?" She turned and walked away, both hands clenched into two tight fists of frustration.

Challenge

Makayla slipped out of bed, irritated when the bed creaked. It was one in the morning and the entire house was asleep. She was already dressed. All she had to do was slip on her sneakers and make sure Tamarius was asleep. She tiptoed past her cousin's room and down to the room Tamarius was sleeping in.

His door was cracked open, allowing cool air to pass through the stuffy room. Moonlight shined across his bed, highlighting the strong lines of his torso. Breathlessly, Makayla watched as his bare chest slowly moved up and down with his breathing. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back as thoughts of making love to him almost had her crawling into bed with him. Logic returned and she pushed the erotic thoughts from her head and concentrated on the task at hand.  She successfully left the house without making any noise.

She quickly made her way to the orphanage. The front door was locked, but Makayla had grabbed her cousin's keys before she’d gone off to bed. Looking around to make sure no one was watching her, she walked into the abandoned building.  With steady hands, she pushed the door closed and turned the lock.

She scrambled to find a light switch and gasped when a dim light bulb shed light on the extensively damaged home. The kitchen table was broken in two. It looked as though someone’s body had slammed into it. Anger rose to heat her cheeks and grind her teeth as she realized it was her cousin’s body that had split the table. Nearby, the fridge was turned over and spoiling food was strewn everywhere. Maggots swarmed on the floor next to spoiled meat. There was no air conditioning and since it had been locked tight the past few days, it had become a Petri dish from some awful science experiment gone terribly wrong.

All the cabinet doors were open and broken glass covered the floor.  Makayla stepped carefully through the house, slowly taking in the devastation of the disaster. She kept her hand over her mouth in an attempt to reduce the foul odors that sought her nostrils.

She couldn't believe her cousin had stood up to a demon and had fought to protect the children in her care. She was amazed that Tia was still alive and grateful that Tamarius had come with her to support her cousin. She arrived at the stairs that led to the second story.  The banister shook under her touch and a few steps were broken through. She would get to the second floor later. She wanted to check everything downstairs first.

Makayla paused when she heard a shuffle behind her. She turned around quickly, hoping to catch sight of whatever was following her. No one was there and she slowly turned back and continued walking.  Her guard was up and her ears were ready to pick up the slightest sound. She walked into each bedroom on the first floor. Every one of the children's rooms displayed a heart wrenching picture. It revealed how they were swept away in the middle of the night, not having time to even take their shoes or a bag of clothes.

The orphanage housed about forty children from all age groups. Space was limited and many of the orphans shared a room with sometimes four or five other children. Tia had designed the orphanage for only a small number of children, thinking it would be easier to manage. However, she could never turn an orphaned child away and had quickly exceeded her limit.

Makayla looked at the toys and stuffed animals, quickly discarded as the children were hurried away. She thought of the children now staying at neighboring children’s home in St. James. No doubt the children were all eager to return home to their own beds.

A hush of a breath came over Makayla’s shoulder and she stopped, frozen in place as the cold breath glided down her neck. Spinning around again, she saw nothing. It was becoming very clear that she was not alone. 

She returned down the hallway, past the kitchen area and went up the stairs to the second floor. Without forewarning, a vicious vice grabbed her by the neck and violently slammed her against the wall. Struggling for breath, Makayla’s feet dangled above the ground as she faced the eight foot demon that held her by the neck.

His skin was thick and black like that of an alligator. His eyes glowed bright red and he had large black horns on either side of his forehead. He whipped his tail from side to side while licking his lips. He stared at Makayla lasciviously.  He wanted to consume her in many ways.

Makayla struggled to hide her fear. She knew this demon personally. He had destroyed her relationship with her ex-husband.