Calamity

“I told you it wasn’t important. My mother survived her stroke but she just came unhinged after that.”

That word again: unhinged.

“She started with all the witch crap and I went along with it. I tried to keep it from the kids at school, but you can never keep everything quiet. No one knows my dad was shot in my driveway. Even the guidance counselors think it was a heart attack. I was never asked to talk about it, so I never corrected them. They seemed pretty sure of their information.

“My mom’s not a bad person. She’s been through a lot, so I can’t be too critical, you know?”

“She needs help,” Tyler said. He was amazed he could move forward with his plan after her soul-purging. This last week had been one self-discovery after another.

“I’m not forcing her to take drugs.”

Tyler took a long, slow breath. He really had to sell this line. “I care about you, Sasha, I do. I don’t want anything to happen to you. I … want you to be safe.”

“You mean that?” She lifted her head like a deer checking to see if the path was clear.

“Of course. I know things have been fucked up lately, but I want to make everything better.”

“Do you love me?”

He didn’t miss a beat. “Yes, and that’s why we need to do something about your mother.”

“What?”

He reached into the bag at his feet and removed the bottle of Snapple.

17

There’s no reason to think that the human mind can’t withstand the most horrible emotional extremes. People endure travesties of unthinkable proportions. War. Death. Torture. Misery. Things that singe into the subconscious and burn there forever.

Anthony had suffered much already in his life, but what lay ahead was something he couldn’t quite fathom.

“How?”

“However you wish,” Ellis said.

“And then what, after it’s done?”

“Call us and we’ll take care of everything.”

“Do what you’re doing now?” Anthony couldn’t believe he was actually fielding these questions like he intended to go through with it. He wasn’t going to kill his wife. He kept repeating that over and over in his mind: I’m not killing my wife.

The Logical Voice should have backed him up, but instead that voice very calmly offered a logical perspective he didn’t want to hear. If you don’t kill her, these people will take Brendan. You have to do what they want or they will destroy your family.

Wouldn’t killing his wife be destroying his family anyway?

She’s barely been conscious for more than a month.

That didn’t mean she should die.

Ellis and his crew will cover everything up; they’ll be no proof, no worries.

“I need to know why.”

“Because I said so.”

“Why do you want her dead? Does she know something?”

Ellis laughed. “There’s no conspiracy, Anthony. There is simply God’s will and you are charged with carrying out that will.”

“Bullshit,” he said softly. Most of his anger had melted like ice defrosting off a slab of meat. He had no protection anymore. He was utterly vulnerable.

“If you don’t believe, you’ll never ascend to the incredible heights He has to offer. That will be your loss. However, do not let your fears and doubts stymie Brendan’s chance for empowerment. Your son is far too special. We care about him very much and if you do as well, go inside and kill your wife. We’ll even wait right here until it’s done and then we’ll handle the remains.”

That last phrase sent chills through him. Handle the remains. Would they chop her up and burn her in a campfire? He couldn’t kill her. Wouldn’t kill her.

What choice is there?

“No,” he said. “Don’t stay. It’ll be too suspicious if you hang around any longer. Leave and I’ll call you.”

“Take as much time as you need,” Ellis said. “Doing God’s work can be very torturous for the soul.”

Anthony gritted his teeth, stared straight at Ellis—his eyes masked all the vileness lurking there. “Thank you,” Anthony said and got out of the car.

Ellis drove off after another moment and the van followed. The big guy driving didn’t even glance Anthony’s way. He doesn’t have to, The Logical Voice said, they know you’re scared and you should be.

Anthony ran up his driveway and lunged inside his house. He sprinted upstairs, down the hall. The boys’ bedrooms were empty. In his bedroom, Chloe lay tucked beneath fresh cream-colored sheets and her sister Stephanie lay next to her on top of the comforter.

He ran back down the hall. Kitchen, dining room, family room: all empty. No, no, no.

“Brendan!” he screamed. His voice echoed through the silent house.

18

Having an adult trust him so completely that the adult didn’t hesitate to relay the real truth of the situation made Brendan feel close to Dwayne in a way he had never felt toward Dad. He loved Dad, of course, but Dwayne offered something else, something intriguing: entry into the adult world where the nasty truths were not sugar- coated or wrapped in lies.

“I shot Jacob Karras once in the chest and once in the head. I had been waiting in my car for hours for him to come outside. When he finally came out to get the paper, I pulled up and did what had to be done. Killing Jacob Karras is only one difficult thing I’ve had to do in His name, but it is something that still pains me. I don’t want you to think that killing another person, regardless of the reasons, is a joyful experience. It is, in fact, a glimpse into hell.”

Brendan saw the back of Dad’s car with the stupid bumper stickers as people stopped their cars on the highway and ran to the crashed vehicle to see what happened. Before any of those spectators could connect the bowling ball with the overpass, Brendan had left. He hadn’t seen the damage he had wrought on his sister, but he could imagine well enough how her face had been mangled, all her teeth shattered, her nose mushed into her face.

“We left the body because we felt it was the only way to push Mrs. Karras and her daughter into His order. There is no greater motivator for people to turn to God than loss. Dr. Carroll continued to treat Mrs. Karras, though he may have done more damage than good.

“Ellis and I tried to persuade them to come to our church but she screamed at us until we left. She called us devils and demons and said she would cast a spell to protect her home from us.

“We tried and failed. The Karras family fell off our radar. Until, that is, you called me with Tyler’s problem. Do you see how mysterious His ways really are? God has worked to bring me back to the same place where I killed a man because thy will must be done.

“I killed a man to protect my family: Ellis and the church. We must be willing to do horrible things for the greater good. Can you appreciate that?”

Brendan nodded.

“God’s will is not to be questioned. What seems like madness to us is His divine way. To question is to fall from His grace. We must remain empowered and be ready to do his will. Are you ready, Brendan?”

He didn’t have to think twice: “Yes.” He would do whatever he had to to protect Tyler. He had brought more grief to his family because he had been lost, but now he was found, and saved.

Ellis’s voice drifted again, off in his own world. “Sasha Karras.”

“Are you going to kill her?”

“No,” Dwayne said and laid the weight of his eyes on Brendan. “You are.”