Infinite Testament (16 page)

Mr. Ixley said, “I’m alright. Are you okay?”

Rachel’s eyes glowed at him. It was a question she
wouldn’t answer. “I love you. You’ve made my life perfect. I
wouldn’t change a thing.”

She looked as beautiful as the first day Mr. Ixley met
her. She was a splitting image of their gorgeous daughter. Mr.
Ixley gazed into the eyes of his wife. The light of his life.

Rachel continued, “She’s grown up so
beautifully. We did it.” Mr. Ixley nodded. They sure
had. Sara was perfect.

“Come on!!” Bruce yelled. “We have to get out of
here!! Now!” The heat of the fire blared and smoke rushed into his
face.

Rachel whispered to her husband, “It’s time for you to
go.” She reached out and caressed his face. He closed his
eyes. “I love you.” Rachel’s thumb rubbed his face. She
didn’t want him to go. But he had to.

Mr. Ixley unbuckled his seatbelt and finally grabbed a hold
of Bruce’s hand. With all his might, Bruce pulled as Mr. Ixley shifted
his way out. Bruce managed to get him out of the car and atop the
driver’s side. Mr. Ixley put his arm around Bruce but couldn’t feel his
leg.

Bruce supported Mr. Ixley with his shoulders. He took
a peek inside the vehicle. “I’ll be right back for you, Rachel!”
When he saw her though, she was unconscious and smothered with blood. Her
skull was fractured and crushed. She had borne the brunt of destruction.

Bruce would have to save Mr. Ixley first. Bruce
crouched down. “Grab on to me.” Mr. Ixley wasn’t an overly heavy
man and with Bruce’s stature, it wouldn’t be too difficult to carry him on his
back.

Mr. Ixley held on. Bruce scaled down the overturned
SUV with Mr. Ixley over his shoulders.

Sara stood in horror at the base of the ditch, watching Bruce’s
rescue effort. “Where’s my mom?!” she yelled.

Bruce placed Mr. Ixley on one foot and became a crutch for
him as he hobbled toward Sara. Bruce yelled, “I’m going back for her!”
They struggled as they inched toward Sara.

“Bruce,” Mr. Ixley whispered, “I was wrong about you.
I’m sorry.”

“That’s great,” Bruce responded, “But I gotta get back to
your wife.”

As they reached Sara, Bruce helped Mr. Ixley to the ground
and sat him on the grass. The sound of sirens whirled in the air.
Help was minutes away. Bruce turned toward the SUV and started to run.

But it was too late. The SUV vanished and was
replaced with a large ball of flame. A hot rush of air blasted past Bruce
and knocked him backwards. Debris flew around, whipping its way in every
direction. There was a loud boom, but Bruce didn’t hear it. It was
so loud, it simply knocked out his hearing. A deep pain grew in his head
as the reality of what just happened started to settle in.

Rachel Ixley was dead.

Bruce turned to Sara, who was wide-eyed with shock.
The sharp turn of the evening hadn’t hit her yet. Without warning, she
took off and ran straight for the burning remnants of the SUV.

“Sara! No!” Bruce ran after her. He
intercepted her and squeezed her as she kicked and screamed. He
whispered, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” It was no consolation.

“You did this!” Sara screamed. Her fists pounded on
Bruce’s chest. “Why didn’t you help her!?”

Bruce was heartbroken. She was right. He
should’ve moved faster. And now a life was on his hands. Sara
pushed him away and ran to her father. They embraced.

Ambulances, police cars, and fire trucks arrived-finally. Dozens of policemen, paramedics, and firemen rushed to the
scene. They headed straight for Mr. Ixley and Sara, running right past Bruce.
He preferred it that way. He had a score to settle.

Bruce sprinted up the grassy ditch and headed toward the
truck. Its cargo back was on its side; the truck had skidded after
hitting the SUV in a pathetic attempt to stop. Bruce ran past the parked
police cars whose lights were still blaring.

An officer attempted to grab him as he ran by. “Where
you goin’ son?” Bruce brushed him off and kept running until he reached
the driver’s door of the truck. The officer was only steps behind him.

Bruce opened the door of the truck. “Hey!”
Bruce screamed. He had been in plenty of fights and seen his share of
trouble, but he had never been so scorchingly furious in his life. If the
truck driver was lucky, Bruce wouldn’t flat out kill him right there.
“You little shit! Are you goddamn blind?!” He grabbed the shoulder
of the truck driver and shook him. He was passed out. The airbag
never deployed. “Wake up! Wake up asshole!” The driver was
older, in his late 40s, and overweight. Bruce continued to shake
him. He wore a plaid shirt and a solid green baseball cap. His
mouth was wide open, with a cut on his lip and a large purple bruise swelled on
his head. Bruce reared back his fist. He was going to crush his
face and he didn’t care about the consequences. This truck driver just
killed Sara’s mom. Now it was his turn to die.

Bruce was yanked back by a police officer. “No!”
Bruce flailed around, fighting to get back at the truck driver. “I’ll
kill him. I’ll
kill
him!”

“You ain’t killin’ anybody, son. You need to calm
down,” the officer demanded.

Bruce fell to his knees. The moment overwhelmed
him. The love of his life had just lost her mother. His hands
banged against the pavement as he let out a savage yell. Lying on the
street, he hid his eyes in his sleeves. The chaos of the police, firemen,
and paramedics surrounded him but left him alone.

Despite his heroics, he was convinced he had failed.
The pressure on his head was unbearable. Tears snuck from his eyes.
He was dying on the inside. This was the worst moment of his life.

The officer that pulled him away from the truck offered
comfort. “Come on, son. Get up. Let us help you.”

With swollen eyes, Bruce looked up at the officer, who
nodded at him and smiled. He offered Bruce his hand. Bruce stared
at it long and hard. He didn’t want to take it. He wanted to stay
on the ground. Forever. But he had to get up. Bruce lifted
himself without taking the officer’s hand. The officer said, “From what I
hear, what you did back there was pretty heroic.”

“It wasn’t enough.”

“You can’t blame yourself for what happened.”

Bruce nodded and turned away from the officer. He
needed to find Sara. He wiped his eyes and paced back toward the
ditch. The burning remnants of the SUV had been put out by the
firemen. The smoke rose into the sky, bringing darkness upon all of
them. “Sara!” Bruce yelled.

“She’s over there!” a random fireman said, pointing toward
an ambulance.

Bruce spotted her. She was being interviewed by an
officer. Getting her account of the accident, most likely. Bruce
approached her.

Sara spotted Bruce and looked back toward the
officer. Her eye makeup was smeared all over her face. She was more
relaxed but still shaken up.

Bruce mumbled, “I’m sorry, Sara.”

Sara glared at him. The light in her eyes was
gone. Sara couldn’t bear the sight of him. She looked back at the
officer.

Bruce’s heart broke. He lost her. He knew it
right then. Things would never be the same. They couldn’t be.
It was impossible. “I want you to know that I love you. And I’ll
always be sorry.”

Sara ignored him. There was nothing he could say to
her. Defeated, Bruce walked away.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw an overweight man
walking away. Further, he had a green hat. Wait a second.
That was the truck driver. “You’re letting him get away!” Bruce yelled to
no one in particular.

Bruce sprinted down the street after the truck
driver. “Turn around, asshole,” he demanded. The truck driver
turned around and faced Bruce, who now stood only feet from him. Bruce
asked, “Where do you think you’re going?”

“I was looking for you,” he responded.

“No you weren’t.”

The truck driver lowered his head. He was
ashamed. “I’m sorry about what happened. My brakes weren’t
working. Honest. I’ve been a truck driver for 20 years. I’ve
never had my brakes fail like that before. There was nothing I could
do. I tried to avoid hitting them.”

Bruce observed the truck driver. He didn’t seem to be
lying. Strangely, the cut on his lip and the bruise on his head were
gone.

“You still have to talk to the police,” Bruce said.

“Can’t. I’m only here to talk to you. To tell
you that I’ll pay you back someday.”

“For what?” Bruce asked.

“For all this. I owe you.”

Bruce laughed in disgust. “There’s nothing you can do
to pay me back. You’ve destroyed Sara’s life.”

“Tell her I’m sorry.”

“Tell her yourself.”

“I can’t,” the truck driver said.

“Why not?”

The truck driver looked for an explanation. “She
just… it’s not… I’m talking to you now only because of Elpis.”

Bruce’s eyes widened. ELPIS? No one knew about
the ELPIS box but he and Stephen. A voice from behind him yelled, “We’ve
lost him. He’s dead!”

Bruce turned around and looked into an open
ambulance. There was a rather large body on a stretcher being
covered. A paramedic removed a green hat from the body. Bruce
turned back to where the truck driver had been standing.

He was gone.

Bruce’s heart dropped as he realized what just happened.

He talked to the dead truck driver.

“Well, I should get going, Mr. Ixley,” Bruce said as
he finished his portion of the cinnamon roll

“You don’t have to call me
Mr
. Ixley anymore,” he
responded, smiling at Bruce.

“Good to know. Thanks for the cinnamon roll.”

Mr. Ixley nodded at him. The scar that ran perpendicularly
over his eye was still visible, albeit more healed. It was a permanent
reminder for what happened.

Meanwhile, back at the bookstore, Kristen stood in line
with a pile of books in her hands. She had found them all and was ready
to checkout and meet Bruce outside.

“Hey Kristen!” Sara Ixley emerged from behind her,
with her own batch of books.

“Sara! How are you?” Kristen responded

Sara’s face beamed. She looked different than she did
in high school. The prom night incident matured her and robbed her of her
innocence. Instead of being a sweet girl, she was now a responsible,
sometimes all-too-serious woman. Sara and Kristen had a few classes
together and became friends. They hadn’t seen one another in a while, but
they still held each other in high regard.

Sara asked, “How’s your boyfriend? I hear he’s a real
looker.”

Kristen laughed. “I guess. He’s great. We
just moved in together actually.”

“When am I going to get to meet him?”

“Anytime! Are you still going out with that cheerleader
guy… what’s his name?”

“Nick. Yeah, I’m still going out with him.”

“Why don’t we do a double date soon?”

“That sounds great,” Sara said.

It was Kristen’s turn to checkout. The cashier waved
her over. “Well, I gotta get goin, Sara. I’ll give you a call and
we’ll set something up.”

Sara smiled.

It was a fake smile. She knew exactly who Kristen’s
boyfriend was. Bruce. Sara had no desire to ever see him again.
She might’ve had some deep, lodged feelings for him. But they were
buried a thousand feet under the ground. There was only one reason she
wanted to get together with Kristen and see Bruce:

She had to deliver a message.

Many years later, the ILD was discovered. Bruce
Dennett had failed to stop Stephen Pandora from revealing his groundbreaking
discoveries. It was shortly after that when Nick Castaneda struggled to
free himself. He had been flailing helplessly for hours. Being
covered with a hood had restricted his airflow and shrouded him in
darkness. Finally, the hood over his head came off. Fresh air
poured into his nostrils. Forced to his knees, he had no idea where he
was. He had been walking to his car when he was overtaken and kidnapped.
And now, he found himself here: in a huge, wide-open, steel covered
room. It looked like a warehouse of some sort. The air was damp and
the whole area smelled of wet metal. The room was dome-shaped and
horridly lit. The plain white lights negated most of the color, creating
a dull palette and a tiring sight. Nick rose from his knees.

A man in a blue robe approached him. He had flowing,
wavy black hair and held some kind of long staff in his hand.

Nick’s voice endlessly echoed, “Do I know you?”

The man smiled and continued to approach him. Nick
backed away. He had perfectly good reason to feel the terror growing
inside him. “What do you want from me?!”

Nick hectically looked around. There was nowhere to
escape. The room was wide open, like a Coliseum of sorts. He
couldn’t even see the surrounding walls because they were shrouded in
darkness. How did he end up here? He was a simple, law-abiding
citizen who had never so much as considered breaking a rule.

The man with the staff revealed his name, “I am X.”

“X?”

Nick looked beyond X and noticed something in the distance
that caught his eye: another man in a blue robe who emerged from the darkness
shrouding the walls.

“Yes. One letter. X. Not Y. Not
Z. X. That is my name. Call me anything else… and I will kill
you,” X said matter-of-factly. It became clear to Nick this was a
disturbed individual.

Nick asked, “What do you want from me?”

X was amused. Quite honestly, X’s giddiness scared
Nick. He didn’t want to die. He had a family. A wife. A
daughter. They needed him. He couldn’t stand the thought of them
going through life without him.

X spoke up, “I have questions. You have
answers.”

All around him, blue-robed figures emerged from the
darkened walls. Their faces were concealed; they didn’t seem human.
They laggardly paced toward him.

X held out his hands and bragged, “These are my faithful
twelve disciples.”

The twelve robed figures stopped in their tracks and stood
still.

Nick asked again, “What do you want from me?”

“Do you listen? I said, ‘I have questions. You
have answers.’”

Nick was distracted by the eerie twelve ‘disciples’.
He nervously uttered, “What do you want to know?”

“Sara Ixley. Tell me what you know about her.”

Nick’s face dropped. Sara Ixley? He dated her
for two years in college. But that was ages ago. He was kidnapped
and dragged to this forsaken place to be asked about
Sara Ixley
?

Bruce followed Kristen through the restaurant.
They were meeting Kristen’s friend and her boyfriend for a double
date. Bruce wasn’t exactly thrilled, but he went along with it anyway.
The restaurant they found themselves in wasn’t necessarily a fancy place so he
didn’t bother to dress up. A t-shirt and shorts did it justice.
There were waiters and a good food selection but at its core, it was just
another chain restaurant.

Bruce and Kristen traveled past occupied tables.
Bruce observed the faces as he passed, eager to see who he’d be meeting.

“There they are!” Kristian exclaimed. She waved at
her friend.

Her friend waved back.

Bruce stopped in horror. The waving girl, sitting in
a booth with her boyfriend, was Sara Ixley.

He stared in disbelief.
Sara Ixley
. Her
blonde hair flowed just as he remembered. She was no less beautiful than
she had been when he saw her early on prom night. The last time he saw
her was at the football game sophomore year, two years ago. She was a
cheerleader. And she had been into one of her fellow cheerleaders.
Bruce remembered how much that tiny kiss hurt him. It was then he swore
he would let go of Sara.

But he never did.

“Come on, Bruce,” Kristen instructed.

Bruce reluctantly joined them. As he approached the
booth, his eyes met Sara’s. Sara watched as Bruce sat in the booth next
to Kristen. Sara’s heart broke. She knew it would be difficult… no,
excruciating… to see Bruce again, but she had no choice. Secretly, she
had longed to talk to him and tell him how sorry she was for cutting him out of
her life. She was young. And foolish. Back then, Bruce’s
selfless heroism on prom night wasn’t enough for her.

Bruce sat in the booth. Almost instantly, he noticed
Sara’s hand: the E.M. ring he gave her was still on her finger. The sight
bewildered him. Why hadn’t she taken it off? Did she still have
feelings for him? Bruce stared at her and she stared back. There
was no hiding it: it was supremely awkward.

“This is Sara Ixley,” Kristen said, “and this is her
boyfriend, Nick…”

“Castaneda,” Nick interrupted.

Bruce looked at Nick and recognized him: he was the
cheerleader who kissed Sara on the sideline. He was the all-American
type, cleanly dressed, wearing a polo and donning a buzz cut.

“Hi Nick, I’m Bruce.”

Kristen whispered, “Aren’t you going to introduce yourself
to Sara?”

“Yeah…” Bruce looked at Sara. “…I’m Bruce.”

Sara stumbled, “Nice to meet you.”

Nick spoke up, “So how do you two know each other?”

Bruce turned his head and spat, “We don’t.”

Kristen furrowed her brow. “What are you talking
about? He’s asking about me and Sara…”

Bruce nervously laughed. “Y..Yeah.”

“Dork.” Kristen continued, “We met each other in philosophy
class. I was struggling and Sara tutored me. We’ve been friends
ever since.”

Blah. Blah. Blah. Bruce didn’t
care. He stared at the girl he loved. But which girl was it?
This was the worst predicament a heart could find itself in. His old
flame that died out much too young against his new steady girlfriend.

“Excuse me,” Bruce blurted out, “I need to use the
bathroom. I’ll be back.” He shifted out of the booth.

“That’s a good idea,” Sara said. “I’m going to go
too.”

Bruce was surprised to hear that. He stopped midway
through getting out of his seat and looked at Sara with bewildered
anticipation. She was up to something. She flashed a smile at him-this was her chance.

They both exited the table. Kristen and Nick stared
at each other as their significant others disappeared from view. “Well,
it’s nice to finally meet you Nick…”

Bruce and Sara made sure they were out of sight. Not
only from Kristen and Nick, but from all the patrons of the restaurant.
They found a niche of a hallway leading to the bathroom that provided them
enough privacy. They stared into each other’s eyes. Bruce shook his
head, unable to fathom who was standing right in front of him.

“How are you?” Bruce asked.

“I have to be honest with you, Bruce. I knew
you were going out with Kristen. I have to tell you something.”

Bruce interrupted, “Why are you still wearing it?”

Sara was perplexed. Bruce grabbed her hand and
brought it to her eyes. “The ring.”

Sara was at a loss for words. She looked at the
ring. E.M. Bruce had given it to her when she was a junior in high
school.

Bruce persisted, “You still have feelings for me?” He
stared into her eyes, which were glowing with sentiment. He continued,
“Because you should know… I never stopped loving you.”

The feelings that had been buried thousands of feet under
her came roaring back to the surface. Sara raised her hand to Bruce’s
face and caressed him. He took her hand in his. They gazed deep
into each other’s eyes.

Sara whispered, “I never stopped either.” Their noses
rubbed against each other. It had been so long. Too long.
There was a void in both their hearts. And now the only thing that could
fill that void was standing right in front of them. Their lips inched
together, until finally, after years of waiting, they met. Bruce kissed
Sara as if it was the last kiss he would give. He closed his eyes and
cherished the feel of her soft lips against his. They separated and
stared longingly into each other’s eyes. Unfortunately, there was a truth
they both knew:

They couldn’t be together.

At least not yet.

Sara smiled. She pulled Bruce close to her and hugged
him. She squeezed, never wanting to let go.

Then, she remembered. She had a message. She
needed to tell him. “Bruce,” she whispered, “I have to tell you
something.”

Bruce pulled his head back so he could see her face.

Sara continued, “The girl who gave you this ring… don’t
trust her.”

Bruce was stunned. “What?”

“Do you know what that means?”

Bruce stared at her with confused eyes.

Sara continued, “You can’t listen to her. Whatever
she tells you to do, don’t.”

Bruce perplexedly asked, “Where did you come up with this?”

“Someone told me I needed to tell you that. If I
didn’t tell you by the end of the month… Just… I was supposed to tell
you.”

“Who? Who made you do this?”

“I don’t know. I’m sorry Bruce, I… I can’t say
anything else.”

Bruce stared at her in disbelief. Their emotional
reunion had been cut strangely short. He grabbed her hands and held them
up to his chest. “You can trust me.”

“I know. I know I can… Just… forget it.
Please. My only job is done now.”

Bruce was baffled. He lowered his head in
disappointment. He raised her hands to his lips and kissed them.
Then, he noticed something was wrong.

“What is that?”

Bruce pulled down the sleeves covering Sara’s wrists and
exposed her scars. The sight shattered him. “You tried to kill
yourself?” he asked as delicately as he could.

Sara dropped her head. She was ashamed,
embarrassed. She looked at Bruce, imagining how he was judging her.
Instead, she noticed tears creeping from his eyes.

“I’m so sorry,” Bruce struggled to say. “I had no
idea... I let you down. I wasn’t there for you. I’m sorry.”

Sara smiled, relieved and touched that he didn’t judge
her. Tears of her own began to crawl their way out her eyes.
“Bruce… It’s not your fault...” Bruce smiled at her through his
teary blurred vision. Sara continued, “We better get back before they
start to get worried.”

Bruce whispered, “I want to see you again.”

“You will.” Sara said. “We’ll figure something
out.” She noticed his eyes. They were red and wet. “You
better dry your eyes. They’re going to wonder what happened.”

Bruce laughed. “I’ll just tell them I got soap in my
eyes. They’ll believe it.”

They smiled at each other one last time before they had to
pretend they were strangers. It was time to face Kristen and Nick.

“I dated Sara Ixley a long time ago. What do
you want to know about her?” Nick asked.

X looked at Nick with a deathly intensity. He wasn’t
kidding around. He wanted answers.

“As you might know, Sara killed herself many years
ago. But… I started to get the feeling she wasn’t the one who pulled the
trigger. I want to know what you know about that.”

Nick stared at some of the twelve disciples who surrounded
him. They were daunting. He didn’t feel safe and was starting to
seriously question the sanity of what was going on. “Sara killed
herself. She tried once before and failed. Why is it so hard to
believe she would try again?”

X was displeased.

Nick asked, “Were you related to her or something?”

X didn’t bother answering his question. “You know
nothing?”

Nick shook his head. “We went out for two
years. I didn’t talk to her after that.”

X was discouraged. He commanded to his disciples,
“Get him out of here.” X walked away as the blue-robed disciples closed
in on him. Nick grew nervous. He didn’t want them near him.

“You should try her father,” he yelled out. X stopped
and faced Nick. His interest was piqued as Nick continued, “His wife died
in a car crash and he went kind of crazy. If anyone knows anything, it’s
him.”

X retorted, “I doubt that.” He held out his hand,
signaling for his disciples to stop their progress toward Nick. The
disciples obediently froze in place. X brought his face uncomfortably
close to Nick’s. “What are you suggesting?”

“Nothing,” Nick said. “Please. I have a wife
and a daughter. I just want to get home to them.”

“How tragic,” X mocked.

Nick’s mind scrambled, looking for a way out. “Why
don’t you get some of her old boyfriends? She wasn’t exactly prudent with
who she went out with.”

X only grew more heated. Nick was unknowingly digging
himself in a hole.

“Sara was always around shady characters.”

X turned red. “Shady?”

“She was just kind of… immature.”

X gripped his staff. He had enough. He twisted
the staff and a blade shot out at one end. He jabbed the blade into Nick.

Nick convulsed forward.

X taunted him, “Sadly, your family will have to learn to
live without you. Good luck in your next life.”

Nick felt his life slipping away. What had he done to
deserve this? Nick was physically impaled, but worse, the thought of his
family broke his heart. They would have to live their lives without
him. It would be mere minutes before he would die.

X looked admirably at his work. “Clean this up.
Do what you have to do,” he announced to his disciples. The twelve of
them watched the scene unfold.