The Soul

BEFORE: Chapter Eight

     "No, nothing happened here. If they are going to believe, then you have to believe it."

     "Who's they?"

     Ivor turned and walked to Cara's once again open window. She noticed now that it was light out, the summer sunshine pouring into her room in waves, warming it up.

     "Do you enjoy stories Cara?"

     Okay, yeah, he definitely had a brain injury.

     It seemed he wasn't waiting for an answer, however.

     "Let me tell you a story."

***

     Michelle was in a great rush, her hands shaking, feverish heat emanating from her sweaty body. Her heart was beating erratically, under a grave load of stress. What she had just heard, hidden in the alcoves outside the living room door, reflected fears unbeknownst to her. The idea that her husband could be other than human was an idea never before delved on by her.

     And her daughter Cara...What did that make her?

     Michelle was near hyperventilating now, unhearing of the noise she was making as she paced back and forth across her bedroom rug. She needed to get herself under control. It would do her no good if Rob heard her.

     As miniscule as the question was in the grand scheme of things, she wondered if that was even his name. Did she know nothing of the man she was married to?

     Refusing to dwell on emotional matters, she focused her attention on a plan: A getaway plan.

     First things first, she needed to get her daughters out of the house. By the sound of their laughter reverberating throughout the house, she could tell they were both in Bree's room, most likely playing house. She would need to come up with a persuasive excuse as to why she needed to take the girls out at almost ten pm on a school night.

     She decided she would need to get the girls in on it if she wanted to stand even a slight chance against him. He was no stranger to raising his hands at her after a couple drinks at night. Pained, Michelle felt that his abusive tendencies made a lot more sense now after what she had just eavesdropped on below.

     Steeling herself to follow through with her plan of getting the girls out of the house, she turned to make her way to Bree's room, biting at her nails, a habit she had long forgotten from childhood.

     And there he stood:

     Her beloved.

     Her husband.

     Her demon.

     Robert Engel, a can of beer held in his hand, one of the many littering his office.

     It seemed it was one of those nights.

     Michelle Engel braced herself.

***

     When Ivor ceased telling his 'story', Cara remained quiet, as she had throughout the telling of it. Her heart was beating incredibly fast. She could feel a deep sadness enveloping her. The true horror of the story had not yet touched her. Just the human sadness of a broken family.

     I may be Death; an unrelenting force that takes and takes, refusing to ever give, but I can assure you that I feel for you all, especially those of you who's families fall apart before your eyes. I have been 'alive' forever and ever, so to speak, and one thing that definitely gets to me, is the complexity of Time. She does not give herself away often, and when she does, she chooses to do that which amuses her; splitting up families in split seconds, sometimes even through my employment.