Chapter 14: The Agreement
Michelle had her pillow hugged close to her. Her face was buried in it, trying to hide the sobbing. The door opened and Michelle instinctively said, "Go away!"
"Michelle?" it was Renae.
Michelle looked straight at Renae with eyes of venom. "Well, I hope you're happy. The selfishness that lives in your heart ought to outweigh the guilt that I feel terrible about all of this." Michelle turned around on her bed, facing the wall.
"You could have very well said yes."
"What? So that I could deal with more pain and heartache? No. I can't deal with it... no matter what."
"Evangeline?" a new voice entered the room. Michelle didn't have to look to know that it was Skips.
"Leave me be," said Michelle, tears still falling from her eyes.
"Look, I know you're scared. It's okay to be scared... but you have to understand that I'm in earnest." Michelle didn't respond. "What would I have to do to prove this to you?"
"I don't know." Michelle's voice was a quiet whisper.
"I'm not leaving your side, Evangeline. If you won't have me as a lover, perhaps you'll still have me as a friend."
"It doesn't matter what I choose. The universe is just going to keep screwing with my life no matter what."
"Then there really isn't any reason why you shouldn't do this." Michelle swatted her hand at Skips, trying to get him to go away.
"Just leave me alone."
"Why? So you can wallow in self-pity and doubt? Evangeline... there's something here that wasn't here before... not since Desdemona."
"Oh, there we go again with Desdemona. I hate the name."
"Yet you tried to save her life."
"Out of pity for you!" Michelle turned to him harshly. It was the first time since entering the room that Skips saw how broken Michelle really looked. "I love you too much for my own good," she said quietly, looking down at the bedspread. Skips replied by kissing her tears away. She was able to laugh a little at the tickling sensation. When he pulled away, she asked, "Why me?"
Skips shrugged. "You're right. You were there for me. Not only do I want to be there for you and not spend the rest of my life alone, but I also want to feel this love always." He grabbed her hand and held it in his. "Evangeline..."
She sighed. Her eyes went back and forth in thought. "All right."
Time passed and it was soon winter. More particularly, it was Christmas. Michelle and Skips had gotten married three months prior. Everyone was laughing, caroling, and having a good time overall. The Christmas party was going well. There was only one small flaw in these otherwise joyous proceedings.
Michelle had been feeling queasy and strange. She thought it might be a cold due to the season, but these feelings deep in her gut... she couldn't deny the fact that she had felt them before. Even though Michelle was an anthropomorphic blue jay, she had the reproductive organs of a mammal, due to the fact that her father was human and her mother was an anthropomorphic. Mutations were common. Most of the time, they were in her favor, but as she stood at the sink, waiting for the results of the test, she hoped it was a lie. This is the third test. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe those tests were rigged, she thought hopelessly. Come on... one line only, please. The results came up. Two lines. Yep, I'm pregnant.
Shortly after her third try, there was a knock at the door. "Evangeline? Are you all right?" It was Skips.
"I'm fine, Walks, just fine," she said, although she had a hard time hiding the stress in her voice. The door began opening and she quickly threw the tests away. When Skips came in, she looked flustered and all the world like she was upset and hiding something.
"You don't sound or look fine. Have you stopped throwing up?"
"For the moment." Her eyes looked afraid, which only made Skips more concerned.
"Is there something you want to tell me?" They heard the joviality from downstairs get louder a moment before quickly dying down again.
"Not particularly." She sighed and hugged her arms together. She knew she couldn't keep it from him forever, but she also couldn't say it aloud. It could spell out trouble sooner than she wanted it. "Why don't we head back downstairs?"
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"I'm fine, Walks, really." She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. The two shared the kiss for a moment before parting, all smiles. He then lifted her up into his arms, causing her to yelp in surprise. She laughed as he brought her back downstairs in his arms. She always enjoyed being in his arms. It was a feeling of bliss and safety unlike any other place she could ever be.
When they arrived back downstairs, there was plenty of cheering from the room toward them. Michelle ducked her head into Skips's chest, embarrassed at all the attention. He put her down on her own feet and everyone was soon back to the party. It was the happiest Christmas party Michelle had been to in a long time.
Then, there was a large crash as the wall and window on the front of the house broke in. Skips immediately got in front of Michelle to protect her, but a giant arm knocked him out of the way. Everyone backed off as one arm became several and on them was Adam, propelling these arms. Fear, after all, reaches many and can get quite large.
"Adam," said Michelle, her voice breathy with fear.
"There's my love. My wife. Enjoying a party with another man. It's quite a shame, especially after all we've been through," said Adam. The arms transferred to the walls and spread across the whole room, making it black and red. Everyone was staying there whether they liked it or not.
"I left you long ago and married plenty of other men, had plenty of other relationships. Why do you persist in vexing me so?"
"You and I vowed to be together until death do we part, sweetheart... and that's just what I intend."
"Your ring is no longer on my finger. It hasn't been for over 200 years. If that's not enough to claim a divorce, I don't know what is."
"Say you want me to be your husband no longer and I won't be, but understand that if you do say that..." He put a hand to her stomach as he said the next part: "Then I cannot assure safety."
"Get away from her," said Skips.
"Oh, do shut up," said Adam. He influenced his arms to grab Skips and hold him to the wall, seconds before Skips could reach him.
"Let him go," said Michelle sternly.
"I don't see why I should. We've been playing hit and dodge for over 200 years and I grow weary of it. You haven't learned the simple lesson that I've been so earnestly trying to teach you," said Adam.
"Which is?" asked Michelle.
"So long as you harbor fear in your heart, I will never leave you. It is my duty to cause fear, and fear I shall cause." At the last words, he made his voice dark and ominous. His face changed to one of darkness and Michelle was instantly overcome with fear. "Yes, you feel it, don't you? Feel the fear rushing through your veins. Embrace it, my Evangeline. Embrace it and you may be mine."
"I don't want to be yours."
"You always enjoyed making hard calls. Here's one for the ages. You can either give up yourself... or give up your inner self." He laughed darkly.
"You can just leave here and die a horrible death in a hole somewhere for all I care because I choose neither." Adam's response was to laugh again, all the darker and harder, causing the room to shake. Michelle trembled, but she stood her ground. If she backed out now, she would lose.
"You can stop playing games with me, sweetheart. I see how pale you are, I see you trembling, I see the fear in your eyes and in your heart."
"Leave me." She said it insistently.
"What are you gonna do? Your power is no match for mine." As if to prove his point, the darkness in the room came closer, closing in the space.
"I remember a time not so long ago when I told a man 'I love you so.' That man wasn't you, so let me go," Her voice trembled as she sang, but it was nonetheless strong due to her siren power.
"Evangeline..." Adam's voice returned to a normal sounding one. "Sing... please."
"Which song would you like to hear?"
"Just sing me a song." His voice was gentle, reminding Michelle of a time when she did love him.
"If I sing for you, will you leave us alone?"
"You don't get away so easily, darling. I might cut you a small break, but I will return at an indeterminate time for something... special." He touched Michelle's abdomen and some black surged out from his touch. "I could do so much, it's quite limitless."
"One year."
"Pardon me, darling, but are you trying to strike an agreement with Fear?"
"I will sing one song for you every night for one year. In return, you will leave us alone."
"No, Evangeline, don't do this!" said Skips.
"I require only one song. Tonight. As much as I love the sound of your voice when it is singing, I enjoy the screaming much more." He grabbed her face in one hand. "You have such a lovely screaming voice." She struggled to pull away and he let go. "In return for this one song, I will leave you alone for a term of a year or longer, but I will be watching."
"Understood."
"Then, the agreement is settled?" He extended a hand of black and red that was dripping with the ooze of Fear.
Michelle extended a hand, shook his, and said, "Agreed." Adam smiled a wide smile, showing his gleaming perfect teeth. The darkness in the room shifted until he had a chair of darkness to sit in. He also parted the darkness enough to bring her piano into the room. Michelle shakily sat at it. Her fingers shook over the keys as her mind tried to calm enough to play.
Michelle's fingers had decided to play. It was a haunting sound emitting from the instrument. It was frightening and sad all at the same time. "Write me a sad song to play tonight. I'm feelin' lonesome and my heart won't be all right. I need a man, I need a shelter, I need a strength. I need the one who will show me how to live at length. I need you tonight, baby. I need you to be here with me. I don't want to play anymore games. I don't want to add to my list of shames. This is it, tonight. I'm giving my all tonight. So, baby, I need a man, I need a shelter, I need a strength. I need the one who will show me how to live at length. At length. Oooh. Ooh. Mmm. Won't you be my one? Could you be the one? I need a man, I need a shelter, I need a strength. I need the one who will show me how to live at length. I need someone more than exactly like you, babe. I need you." Seeing Adam distracted, Michelle stood up and shoved the piano in his direction.
"Is that the best you can do?" asked Adam as he shoved the piano off of himself. "If you think you're any safer than you were before, you're wrong. You may want to guard yourself carefully, or you'll be dealing with another death. I will not rest until I make sure that you die paranoid and afraid. After all, that's what fear is for." He vanished in a puff of smoke and the room was back to normal. Skips rushed over to Michelle.
"Are you all right?" he asked.
"I hate my life," she said bitterly.
"Don't say that."
"It's true. If I hadn't become immortal, then I could have lived a normal life, free of him, but no, I had to go and be the protector because that was totally my job to begin with. Why did I even bother? I wish... I wish I was dead!" She rushed upstairs and a door was heard slamming. Skips sighed.
"I'll be back." He went upstairs after Michelle and found her in the hallway beside her door. "Why didn't you go into your old room?" he asked her.
"I don't know. I just want this to be easier," she said, tears in her eyes.
"Evangeline," said Skips, kneeling down to her level. "I promised you I would never leave you and that I would always protect you. I'm not breaking that promise."
"Oh? How are you gonna protect me from myself? Hmm? And how are you gonna protect me from a freakin' force of nature?"
"Evangeline, have you ever known me to not have a plan? We'll figure something out."
"What would your solution be then? Run? No, I've tried that, in multiple countries on multiple continents, I might add. I can be in a cave in the middle of the desert and he'll find me there. Fight him? No, he's too powerful. He is something we can't touch, so why bother?"
"Look, you said so yourself that he is Fear, right?"
"Yeah."
"So, fear can be overcome, and we can overcome it together. Then, he won't be so strong. He was right, so long as you hold onto your past and fear him, he'll never leave you, but if you can stay here, in the now, and overcome him, then he'll lose his power."
"And then what? There are still plenty of bad guys out there that would love to either kill an immortal or harvest our DNA in cruel and unusual ways or those like Adam that want to hunt us until we kill ourselves from the utter insanity of it all. I'm not prepared to face all that, even with you by my side."
"What if I told you that I was?"
"Then I'd say you were foolish. To not have fear for something worth fearing is foolish."
"To fear something and not face it is foolish. To face something and fight it is courage, something I know you have inside of you, Evangeline. Come on, I'll be right beside you all the way." He stood up and offered his hand for her. "What do you say?" Michelle took his hand and stood. She hugged him tightly, as if afraid he would fade away. "I've got you, Evangeline."
After a moment, they went back downstairs. Of course, everyone had questions. "What was he doing here?" "What did he want?" A few from Mordecai struck Michelle the hardest though: "What did he mean he couldn't promise safety? And what about giving up yourself and your inner self? What did he mean by all that?" They all looked at her as she stared at the ground.
"Evangeline, is there something you want to tell me?" asked Skips.
"I might as well, considering as how it's been forced upon me like this," said Michelle. She took a deep, shaky breath before giving her answer. "Adam knows things when we are afraid of them. The particular subject he was drawing attention to tonight was my fear of telling Skips about an added variable to the already complicated situation that has become my life." Skips put an arm around Michelle, trying to calm her.
"What are you saying?" Skips asked softly.
Michelle looked into his eyes and said, "I'm pregnant."
Skips's eyes widened. "How? You kept saying you were taking precautions and how you wanted to take your time with this."
"I know, I know, but I think I know how this happened. I think it happened on that one night we drank a little too much."
"Oh."
"I always took the pills after dinner and since we had alcohol instead... well... you know." Skips brought Michelle closer to him. "Are you mad?"
"Evangeline, why would I be mad? I'm surprised, but I'm not mad."
"I just thought that with all that we have to deal with already that this would be unwelcome news."
"Evangeline, listen to me. I want this child. I want this to happen and I will do everything in my power to protect you two."
"Walks... if you do want this, it will not be easy. I need my child to have a mother and a father. Don't do anything rash."
"Evangeline, I've learned a few things in my time, I think I can do this."
"If you say so, then I trust you." He brought her close. He held her head in one hand and brought his nose to her head feathers. He breathed in her scent. It was a smell that reminded him of summertime and of springtime and of life. He knew he didn't want to lose her, because if he did, all he would smell thereafter would be the scents of a dreary fall, of a harsh winter, and a cold death.
I hope Adam goes away and leaves them alone. That way, everyone can get on with their lives without so much paranoia on their backs. How was the song? (I wrote it, BTW) I'm not usually too good at improvisation, but I think I did okay this time ;) Anyway, please keep reading and reviewing, thanks :)