Wild Swans (13 page)

Ruby focused her attention again on the creature hovering just inches above the lawn. It turned, looking frighteningly two dimensional, like a blackboard that was propped up on its side. Then, without a sound, the thing simply disappeared.

Ruby thought she was going to faint. She felt her legs turn to Jello. She leaned over and clutched the window sill for strength.

“Did you all see that?” she whispered.

Elly and Cally nodded.

“Look at the store,” Ruby commanded. The women’s attention was drawn to the building standing just before the tree line. Sitting on the high line wires that fed electricity into the store as well as the house, was a large black buzzard. Its eyes were like red glowing pinpoints. Ruby’s breath caught. She vaguely heard Cally gasp.

The creature was looking straight at them.

Chapter Nine

Althea leaned against a tree, gasping for breath, fighting a stitch in her side.
Mom was right
, she thought as another fit of crying assailed her.
Oh Lord she was right. Jake really was two timing me.
Regaining her composure, she walked down a winding deer trail leading to the bayou. It was a short cut that she’d taken every day since she started school. Home was about two miles away by walking down the trail as opposed to the four miles it took to drive. Althea didn’t mind. She wanted to walk. It gave her time to think.

Rubbing her sore eyes with a knuckle, she started up the sloping path towards the levee.
How could Jake do this to me
? she wondered.
I loved him and I thought he’d loved me too. We could have run away together and made a life for ourselves, but no, he had to be balling Matilda of all people. Of all the girls in the world, why did he choose her?”

“Because she’s easy,” she could hear her mother saying. “And what do you expect with her father a drunk and her mother doing nothing but having babies every year and taking in washing? They’re trash, and so is their slut of a daughter. Jake will get caught and her father will have them both up before the altar with a shotgun pointed at Jake’s back before he can say boo.”

“You’re right, Mom,” Althea whispered seeing her last hope for love and happiness vanish in the shimmering humid air. “You’re always right.” She stepped up onto the levee and skipped between the saplings and underbrush that grew there. Cardinals, mockingbirds and blue jays flitted through the trees, squabbling over territory. Sunlight glistened off the water to her left, and she heard the comforting sloshing of waves against the levee as she made her journey home.

The forest was very healing. In the past, Althea would walk on the levee and let nature wash away the day’s strife. And from there she’d take every troubling thought, every hurtful word said to and about her and imagine it flowing out of her and into the dark green depths of the bayou below. She imagined all her fears washed downstream out into the Gulf where they dissipated into wind and sea and salt.

This time the daydream wasn’t working.
Perhaps
, she thought,
this problem is too big, even for the ocean to handle.

She uttered a heavy sigh, startling a rabbit from its hiding spot beneath a tangle of blackberry vines. It dashed out across her path and disappeared. Althea wondered vaguely where the creature went because there was little place for it to go other than over the levee and down to the water.

A loud splash startled her and she paused, gazing at the swirling water below. An alligator sunning itself on the far bank had slid in and cruised in her direction. Althea sighed. The animal couldn’t get up on this side, she knew. The levee was too steep, and besides, there were several ducks swimming nearby—far more convenient and interesting prey—as far as she was concerned. Despite that, she quickened her pace.

The sun pounded down high overhead. Althea skirted a cypress tree that, unlike its brothers, hadn’t sunk its knees deep into the muddy bayou floor, but chose instead to grow in the forest. She looked up past the canopy, feeling somewhat confused.
What time is it?
She wondered.
I know it hadn’t been more than an hour since I left the church but the sun looks higher in the sky than it should. Where did the time go?

Feeling headachy and somewhat disoriented, she stumbled along the path atop of the levy, knowing soon the trail would take her away from the water and back towards the plantation house. She could, if she chose to, continue her path down the levee and end up at the docks. But most of that path had been worn away by erosion as well as being obstructed by wild shrubs, blackberry canes, and thick ropes of honeysuckle. The right hand path away from the levee was easier and Althea had a sudden impulse to go home at the most expedient route.

A great heavy flapping disturbed her and she looked up to see a shadow pass overhead. The air became dense and even hotter. Her hair plastered against her head. Sweat trickled in salty rivulets between her shoulder blades. The stillness was palpable. She stopped and listened but heard nothing.

Mosquitoes and buffalo gnats should be swarming around but there was no sign of even the tiniest insect. Althea looked up and saw the sun looked unnatural. It had become as flat and dull as if it had been painted onto the vault of the sky.

Birds squabbling for territory and fledglings taking their first tentative flights had disappeared. Even the alligator that cruised several yards behind her had submerged. The bayou water was still, deep and mysterious. Everything was hushed, as if the entire forest was holding its breath waiting for something dreadful to pass.

Has time stood still?
Althea wondered. Despite the heat, she felt chilled, as if she were standing chin deep in ice water.
It’s getting harder to breathe,
she
noted.
Is it possible that the air itself was getting heavier?

She stepped away from the levee, feeling suddenly and deeply frightened. Tiny hairs on the nape of her neck stood up. Her pulse cranked up another notch. Now she could feel tension in her jaws and realized at that moment that she had her teeth clamped tightly together.
Relax she told herself. There’s nothing here
.

Nevertheless, she stepped backwards again until she came to stand between a pair of aged oaks. Spanish moss draped the branches in deep heavy curtains. The trees were a gateway to an old fort she and Jake had built when they were kids. Inside, she knew it was almost like a tree born cave walled with thick coverings of vines, saplings and shrubs
.
She stood at the moss covered threshold, her head cocked, listening. She saw, seconds later, a great shadow fall upon her from above.

At that instant a hand reached out, clamped down hard on her mouth and dragged her into the fort. She struggled, terrified, adrenalin flowing ice cold throughout her body.

A face came close to her cheek.
It was a man’s
she realized,
and a grown man’s too because I can feel the beard stubble.

“Quiet,” a familiar voice whispered in her ear. “I won’t hurt you, but you have to be still and quiet otherwise they’ll see us.”

“Mr. Lindt?” She mumbled between his fingers.

He gently removed his hand from her face and whispered. “Please don’t make a sound. We don’t want
them
to see us,” he repeated.

“Who?” Althea asked.

He pointed toward the opening between the trees. Her breath caught. It was the same thing she and Jake had seen earlier. A being as dark as if it had been carved out of space itself floated inches above the ground. It swept along the levee, scanning the area where Althea stood just moments before.

The thing paused as if contemplating its next move. Pain shot through her. Blinding lines zigzagged along her peripheral vision. She felt sick, woozy, as if she spent too much time on a roller coaster. Mr. Lindt held her close, whispered so softly that she could barely hear, his lips brushing against her temple as he spoke to her.

“It’s scanning us. It knows we’re nearby but isn’t sure exactly where. Take deep breaths and keep your mind as empty as possible.”

“How?”

“Shhh...”

A nutria shot out between the shrubs and bolted toward the levee. It stopped as it crossed the path of the shadow-thing then stood up on its hind legs, its nose twitching as it investigated the intruder.

The shadow passed over the creature, briefly obscuring it. The thing swayed in the breeze, then moved a few yards towards the right. All that remained of the nutria was dust and bones.

Althea watched, so shocked that she couldn’t breathe as the shadow creature moved closer to the trees. Her head felt heavy and compressed. The zigzag lines grew worse and more intense, obscuring her field of vision. The searing pain of a summer migraine intensified.

“Keep your mind still and quiet,” Mr. Lindt advised. “And no matter how much it hurts, don’t cry out.”

Althea nodded as she pushed her face into Mr. Lindt’s shoulder. She closed her eyes, the bright zigzag flashes of light multiplying, engulfing her entire field of vision. Her stomach flipped as the thing moved closer. She could feel its presence, nearly gagged on a stench that reminded her of soured urine and vomit soaked linens drying in the sun.

She whimpered. Lindt held her closer. The thing advanced closer. Althea tried not to think, dared not to breathe in the vile stench, not to listen as it mumbled in a language that on one on earth had ever heard. Lindt’s arms tightened, and in an instant she could feel his presence in her head.

**
Now, think
,** he told her, **
think of something you love fiercely with all your heart and don’t let go, not even for an instant. Just love. That’s all you have to do
.**

The compression in her head worsened. Althea pushed the heels of her palms into her temples. Mr. Lindt was in her mind again, a soothing balm against the onslaught of otherworldly sensation the creature exuded. She pressed her face deeper into his chest. Her mind reeled, but she found the strength and courage to sort through her emotions.
What do I love fiercely
? she asked herself.
What? Is it Jake? No. Jake betrayed me and now I hurt so badly I may never get over it. And Hank? No. I barely know him.
She thought about her mother.
Mom?
She wondered.
Do I really love her or do I just put up with her
?

**This isn’t about other people loving you, my dear girl
,** Lindt chided softly in her mind. **
Think about what you want, what you love so fiercely that you would rather die than to let it go. What could that thing be?
**

It was then that an image coalesced in her mind. The image was of her climbing onto a bus, the driver stowing away her old yellow and brown suitcase she’d used ages ago when she went to summer camp complements of the Sisters of Compassion. She could actually feel her back resting against the Naugahyde seat.

**
The seats are dull green, just like the bu
s
,**
she told Mr. Lindt.
**The floor is black, metallic and sticky. There are Army women sitting in front of me and I—
**

**
There is no need to describe it,**
Lindt replied.
**I see whatever you do
.**

The creature stopped in front of the tree-fort and stood poised like a dog catching a scent. Mr. Lindt’s arms tightened around Althea and she burrowed deeper into his embrace. She could feel the cool linen of the white shirt, feel the throb of his heart against her cheek, catch a scent of his aftershave.
This must be what it’s like to have a father
, she thought.

The creature scanned her again. She squeezed her eyes shut against the mental onslaught as reality warped around them. Lindt muttered something low and guttural in another language and the strange warping of reality stopped.

**
Continue,**
Lindt’s mind prompted hers. **
Don’t stop now or all is lost
.**

Althea’s mind returned to the bus. **
Army women are sitting in front of me. They’re nurses and,
** she paused as she realized she saw herself dressed in an olive drab suit. **
I’m one too. But how can this be?
**

**
The mind holds many secret treasures
,** Lindt replied. **
Continue, please
.**

**
But the bus isn’t filled with all army personnel
,** she told Lindt. **
There’s a man in a suit reading a copy of the Times Picayune and smoking a pipe, and a woman with a baby in her arms.
** Althea looked out the bus window. Ruby and Cally stood on the platform, waving white handkerchiefs and weeping as if she were about to head out to sea.

Another image caught in her mind. She saw herself dressed in white standing next to a nurse’s station. She gasped.
How could I have forgotten?
She wondered.
It’s what I wanted ever since I could remember
.

The image in white grew stronger and brighter. She felt her heart squeeze with yearning.
I wanted to be a nurse since fifth grade when I started reading those romance novels about nurses and doctors.
Books about Sue Barton, and other favorites came to mind and for a moment she experienced a sharp piercing longing, a deep heart-ache coupled by profound sadness.

**That’s what I want, that’s what I really want
, **Althea thought with all the yearning love in her heart. **
I want to wear that lovely white uniform, to help the sick and injured, and to marry a doctor, have children and a career and live happily ever after out of the bayou, away from the swamps of Louisiana and somewhere dry and safe and free from monsters that look like shadows and the terrible headaches they cause
.**

It was at that moment that she realized the vertigo induced headache had stopped. Birds and small animals returned to the forest. The woods that was so quiet and watchful just moments before, was now humming with activity.

Embarrassed because she was still holding onto Mr. Lindt, Althea moved away, nervously wiping her sweaty hair from her forehead.

“You did remarkably well,” Lindt said, smiling. “And I think you carried something back with you as well.”

“I hadn’t thought about nursing school since I was a little kid,” Althea confessed. “Mom said we couldn’t afford it, and wanted me to marry without having to worry about a career, so it just got forgotten, I guess.”

“It’s a worthy dream and an excellent goal. Helping others,” Lindt replied as he stood, his knee joints creaking as he did so.

“I still want to do it. But Mom won’t let me. She’s determined to plan my life out by the smallest detail.”

“You’re mom wouldn’t have any say in the matter. That is if you follow through with your plans. You are, after all, nearly an adult.”