I had to push.
“Move!” My grandmother, who had been crouched behind Meyers, stood up and pushed past him.
Gently, she checked the progression of my labor.
“It is time.” Her face was grave.
“Oh good, perfect timing.” Meyers began, “Junior’s coming right when Daddy gets here.” He grinned at me and waved his gun around as he chuckled.
“She might not be yours!!” I screamed from both anger and the burning sensation between my legs. Arching my back in agony, the sounds of my pained cries overtook his laughter.
I turned my head and glared at him. With two quick strides, he was by my side. Bending down onto one knee, he grabbed a fistful of my hair in one hand, pulled my head back and held the barrel of the gun under my chin. Leaning close to me, he kissed my ear and whispered. “And then again…
Fury possessed me like a demon. Spitting into his eyes, I didn’t even care if he pulled the trigger. Recoiling and wiping his face, I took the opportunity to bring the rock that I’d been cradling in my hand to his head. Coming at him from the side, I smashed the rock as hard as I could into his temple.
Clumsily, he fell over onto the cave floor and dropped his gun. Stunned, he looked shocked as a stream of thick crimson ran down the side of his face. “You bitch!” He screeched as his hands flew at my neck.
Clawing at his face, I felt my esophagus crushing as he dug his thumbs into the soft groove of my neck and pressed with all his might. Still strangling me, he slammed my head up and down, smashing it against the rocky floor.
It was then I realized he might succeed in killing me.
My eyesight began darkening as my lungs burned for air. Hands falling to my sides, I gave up. I surrendered to the dulling beat of my heart and the slowing of blood through my veins.
I didn’t want to try anymore.
Staring up at Meyers’ maniacal expression, I was saddened that his would be the last face I would ever see. This moment, this violent and tragic moment, would be the last I ever knew.
Just as my eyes were drawing to a close for the last time, I heard a single shot fire. I had just enough sense left to recognize the shock on his face as his life ended in one instant.
The pressure instantly released from my throat as he slumped over onto me. I gasped and fought for air to return to my lungs. Pushing his dead body off of me, I looked sharply to my right.
There, standing strong and proud with the gun in her hand…was my grandmother.
Chapter 19
“Push Cassia! Push!” My grandmother brushed the hair out of her eyes with her forearm as she instructed me.
Groaning, I pushed with all my might. Gritting my teeth together so hard I thought they’d break, I used every amount of strength I had left in my body to bringing my little girl into the world.
“Good, Cassia, one more!”
Taking in a huge breath, I held it and gave one last final push. Finally, I felt something move out of me. Relief consumed me as I breathed heavily.
“My baby! Let me see her!” I exclaimed holding my arms wide toward my grandmother.
She’d wrapped her in a shawl, bundled up in fabric cocoon. Grandmother stood before me, her face sad and filled with despair.
Placing her in my arms, I realized she wasn’t breathing. I immediately looked to my grandmother and began crying. “What’s wrong with her?!”
Grandmother only shook her head.
Holding her close to me, I looked at her tiny features. Her perfect little nose and mouth, her eyes, closed. Her chest, unmoving.
“Why?” I had no words for the sorrow I felt. A pain like I’d never known attached itself to my heart.
Suddenly, I was assaulted by another wave of contractions. Quickly handing my baby to grandmother, I felt the overwhelming desire to again…push.
“What’s happening?!” I yelled and grunted as I tried to push into the pressure consuming my womb.
Shock eclipsed grandmother’s face as she uttered. “There is…another!”
After a few minutes, yet another baby slid out of me. Grandmother gasped, drawing my attention to the newborn in her arms.
“A boy?!” I exclaimed. “Oh my god! Two! That’s what the dream meant. Roman numeral II! Gemini! Twins!” I laughed like a crazy person as the epiphany settled in.
Grandmother forced a smile but still, her face was sad.
“What’s wrong?” The little boy, now wrapped in a piece of fabric torn from my grandmother’s skirt, lie still in her arms.
Glancing over at Keanu’s broken body propped against the wall of the cave, I sobbed with a wonderful realization.
He was the father; I knew it in my heart.
With both of my children now born, a strange calm overcame me. Glancing down at my chest, I watched in awe as my birthmark—the white star—began to pulsate with a vibrant light.
Looking up, my eyes met with my grandmother’s. She was crying as she handed me my babies. Her eyes told me she knew this was the last time we’d see one another.
Admiring the faces of my offspring, I felt an odd sensation come over me. The pulsing in my chest grew and the light emanating from me was dazzling.
My breath sped up for only a moment and then stopped forever.
I felt a release—I was out.
I drifted within a new, yet familiar, reality like a thought upon the wind. All knowledge and all memories of my past were at my disposal.
I’d evolved from a human body many eons ago, like a butterfly escaping from her metamorphic cocoon, and remained a secret until a prophecy—a plan—was complete.
Reincarnating myself, I created my own future body. Within my own womb, I harbored the new body which would eventually carry my own soul through the centuries. Upon birth, my soul moved from one to the other.
In all the ages that I have lived, I have only ever given birth to girls.
When the world was ready to evolve, however, I would give birth to a son. His birth would be the resounding lullaby that would bring a new song to the world.
The prophecy was now complete.
Populating the earth with the seed of the new human, he and his children will bring forth the new race, a new people.
Remembering my purpose, I hovered above my children. Etching their beauty into my ancient memory, I prepared myself to enter my new body.
The old woman watched as a silvery white light left Cassia’s body and twisted above her two stillborn babies.
Meandering over them, it moved towards the heart of the little girl. Caressing the spot where the white star would have emerged, the luminescent thread moved slowly away from the little girl and towards the little boy.
Saddened, the old woman realized that only one could be given the gift of life as she’d seen when Cassia’s body had been brought back from the dead.
Looking up to Cassia’s still expression, she shed a tear for her lost daughter.
Watching in awe as the cord of light moved over the baby boy, the old woman waited for Cassia’s soul to enter his chest. Puzzled, the old woman observed as the snake of light writhed and rose high into the air in between the two babies.
A loud crackling noise suddenly pierced the air and the graceful light pulsated and grew exponentially
