Savage (Daughters of the Jaguar) (15 page)

I took a turn as I went through the town of St. Augustine. I hadn’t had much time to explore this old and charming city but that had to wait. I drove past a couple of old, small houses that reminded me of home and then one of the town’s main attractions—The Fountain of Youth. A huge archway of stone let the visitors into the site. I stopped at a red light while someone was handing out brochures and gave me one through the open roof. I read it while waiting for green:

The Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park
. A
15 acre
 
waterfront, Historical Site where St. Augustine, Florida began in 1565. This is the location where Spanish Explorer Pedro Menendez de Aviles, in 1565, established the first and oldest continuous European Settlement in the United States of America.

- See the stars in our Planetarium,

- Visit our Native Timucua Village,

- Watch a Cannon firing,

- Marvel at Spanish Exploration on our two-story high Discovery Globe,

- Learn about the 1565 Birthplace of European America,

- Stroll through a waterfront park where peacocks strut and shady oaks beckon you to stay,

- Visit the snack bar, picnic under the oaks,

- You can even drink from the legendary waters and see if your visit grants you the secret to eternal youth.

I had to laugh out loud inside of my car as the light turned green. “The secret to eternal youth,” I repeated. “And get it after your visit to the snack bar.” I was intrigued, though, to go and visit the Native Timucua Village and maybe get a peek into Aiyana’s ancestor’s history. But something inside of me said that she would be better at telling me herself. I wanted to know more about her and her roots. I wanted to know everything there was to know about her.

I found myself humming again as I came closer to the hospital. I couldn’t wait to see Aiyana again. And not only her. I couldn’t wait to go back to that house and spend time with her whole family again.

Mrs. Kirk had been in and out of consciousness for several hours that day, and when I arrived she had slipped into a coma-like state as the doctors called it. She wasn’t in a regular coma yet, but her head had suffered severe damage from the blow when she hit the wall and she was struggling, they said, but they still didn’t know if she would win the fight. They had her on a lot of drugs to keep the pain away. All that was left was to wait, Dr. Kirk said as I arrived.  His normally strong appearance was gone and left him looking like an old and tired man with a slightly bent posture. It amazed me how fast people in grief could grow old, how fast life can change people when something like this happens. I had seen it before in my father. When my mother became ill his hair turned white over night. The house became quiet like a hospital. All the music and laughter was gone. The long worrisome nights made his skin gray and gave him countless wrinkles. It was like she had already died and was slowly dragging him with her.

I was shocked to know that it was a lot worse than I had expected. Mrs. Kirk was lying in her bed with tubes in her mouth and nose, her eyes closed like someone sound asleep. Heather was there and was sitting in a chair next to her mother holding her lifeless hand. Dr. Kirk stood by the window looking out at the sunny street where tourists passed in their cars packed with surfboards, beach chairs and happy faces. I felt a huge guilt for not getting to the hospital earlier and for having spent the day dancing carelessly with the neighbors. And I felt even more guilt for not having warned Mrs. Kirk about this. Knowing that this would happen to her I should at least have tried to do something. But I didn’t really know it was going to come true, did I? I didn’t know that I was seeing the future. Not until it really happened.

I stood beside Heather and put a hand on her shoulder. She got up from her chair and hugged me. She held me tight and then she started crying and sobbing in my arms.

“Take her outside,” Dr. Kirk said.

I did as told and helped Heather get out in the hallway. I hugged her for a long time while she cried. I felt a pinch in my stomach. A pinch of guilt.

“I am so sorry,” I said. “I am so, so sorry.” I handed her a Kleenex from a box I had found on the table. She wiped her eyes and nose.

“Well, at least you did everything you could,” she said, her voice watery from tears. “My dad told me that you saved her life. I was in my class and didn’t know anything until Maria called the school and someone came to get me in the auditorium."

“I didn’t exactly do it alone. Maria was there too. She was the one who hit him with that lamp.” I stroked Heather’s hair. It was so fair. So delicate like the rest of her. “I am just sorry that I didn’t do more.”

“What more could you have done? That bastard took her completely off guard.”

I shrugged. “Well … I don’t know … It’s just. I think I might have known that this was going to happen,” I said.

She looked at me, her eyes confused. “What do you mean?” She blew her nose again. The paper tissue made the area around the nose reddish.

I breathed deeply. “I don’t know. I … It’s just that I saw it. Before it happened. When I was still in the hospital. Like a vision or something. I saw that man attack her. I didn’t think much of it, not until it actually happened to her.”

Heather shook her head. “What are you talking about?”

I sighed again. “I don’t know. I don’t know what it is, but ever since the accident at the swamps something has changed inside of me. I am seeing things and I know things that I have no way of knowing. Like that journalist who came to the house the other day. I knew she was pregnant. Don’t ask me how I knew it, I just did.”

“Maybe you just saw it on her stomach?”

“See? That’s the point. You couldn’t tell on her body. She didn’t even know about it herself yet. She figured it out the same day after I told her. I don’t know how I could know that she was pregnant. I just did.”

Heather shrugged. “It’s a coincidence. You guessed it. Maybe you saw something in her eyes. They say that pregnant women shine and have a special look in their eyes. Maybe you just guessed it.”

“Maybe. But how do you explain your mother? I saw that man. I saw him holding on to your mother’s throat.”

Heather exhaled deeply. “I don’t know about that, Christian. I think you’re just imagining things. Maybe it was a dream or some sort of vision. I don’t know.” She got up from the chair. “And frankly, right now I don’t care.” Then she walked past me and went back into the room.

Heather and Dr. Kirk stayed at the hospital for the night while I drove home. Maria put out dinner for everyone and left it on the table before she went home, all the plates wrapped in plastic-wrap ready to be warmed in the microwave. I put Heather’s and the doctor’s in the refrigerator and then I heated my own. I wasn’t that hungry and didn’t eat much of it.

While I was pushing peas and potatoes around on the plate, I suddenly heard a noise coming from the yard. Still with the morning’s attack in my mind, I grabbed a knife and started walking towards the French doors leading to the garden. The water outside was calm and long-legged birds were chasing fish while walking in the shallow parts.

“Who’s there?” I yelled. I opened the door and let the hot air in. "Is there anybody out here?" I asked again.

On the lawn leading to the Intracoastal waters I was met by the most intoxicating sight. It was Aiyana. She was sitting on the grass staring out over the ocean. Her hair was moving in the sea breeze like it was calling for me, like it was trying to lure me to come closer. She hadn’t seen me but she had to be expecting me. I threw the knife on the floor and hurried towards her. She sat leaning back on her arms with her eyes closed, as if she wanted to take in everything this night had to offer, the last beams of the sun, the air, the smells, everything.

“I heard you were feeling down,” she said when I came closer still without moving or opening her eyes. I kneeled behind her and reached out a hand to touch her thick wavering hair. I wanted to plunge into it. I wanted to smell it and let it cover my face. I was hungry for her. I wanted her. Her scent was strong, it was sweet, like a natural perfume. Sunrays hit her face and made it almost sparkle. She kept still as I caressed her hair gently. Then I moved my hand to her dark skin. It was so soft and smooth I can still feel it if I close my eyes and remember her in her beauty - a beauty that never faded for the many years I knew her. I moved her hair and revealed a birthmark on her neck. I leaned over and kissed it gently. I was gazing at her with fascination and with lust. An intensely deep desire rose in me. I wanted to explore her entire body, I wanted to know every little corner of it, and I wanted to make her mine. I wanted to own her completely. I felt fearless as I came closer and sensed that she didn’t pull herself away from me. She must by then have heard my heavy breathing as I touched her hair and arm. She kept her eyes closed and never spoke a word. She was small-boned but yet strong and muscular. She had long slim and strong legs like a runner. Her mouth was sensuous. She still wore her red summer dress in a light fabric. I remember how much I wanted to rip it apart and reach to her soft tanned skin underneath. Very cautiously, I reached out for her and grabbed her tender neck. She gave a little gasp as I pushed her down on the grass. Her lips parted a little like she was waiting for me to kiss her. Her eyes were now opened and staring right at me. I had to have her and she was allowing me. Then I kissed her. I kissed her wonderful soft lips and plunged into her smells of strange and exotic flowers. I was dazzled by her beauty, perplexed by my desire to posses her, to grab her and never let go again, yet overwhelmed by the stronghold of my lust for her flesh. I let go of her lips. I kissed her cheek, her forehead, her nose and nipped her ear. I touched her breasts from outside her dress, her beautiful and perfectly sculptured breasts. With unforeseen violence I pulled down her dress until her breasts were revealed. I kissed them and touched them. So vulnerable, it drove me crazy. I am never going to let you go, I thought as we sank down together in the grass. I smelled her hair again and kissed her neck like I was intending to devour her. I felt her incredible strength beneath me and didn’t have to be careful with her as I had to with most women. Aiyana wasn’t small and breakable. She wasn’t weighed down by my body on her. She was wild, feisty and untamable. I had never wanted a girl this much. I had never craved a woman’s body like this. And even though I had her, even though I conquered her during our lovemaking, I knew she would never be completely mine. And it was about to drive me mad.

Chapter 18

She was gone when I opened my eyes. I had ended up carrying her back to my room where we had made love like two people who couldn’t get enough, like two who couldn’t seem to satisfy their hunger for one another. I could still smell her on me. Even her smell was feisty and fearless.

My alarm clock said midnight. I had fallen asleep and she must have left without me hearing it. It was too late for me to go to the swamps. My jaguar had to get by without me for once, it had to hunt for its own food tonight, which I thought it wouldn’t mind too much. So I closed my eyes and went back to sleep hoping that I would dream about Aiyana.

But I didn’t.

Instead, I had a vivid dream about a woman. An older woman in her forties, maybe. She seemed to be in some sort of trouble. She was running in the street with a child in her arms. She was screaming unbearably. The child lay lifeless in her arms. Then there was a bright white light and I saw the woman again in another place. She was calm now, she was in a house, it seemed to be her own house. She was cooking and putting a big pot of boiling water on the stove. Someone was with her. I was tossing and turning in my sleep while I saw who was with her. It seemed to be that same girl. The child she had held in her arms. Then there was a bright light again like a flash and there was a man in the house with them. He was throwing something. A plate. He was angry with the woman and now he grabbed her and started pulling her by her hair. The girl was there. She was screaming, telling him "dad please stop." But he didn’t. He pulled the mother and threw her in the corner. Then he started hitting her really hard. I saw the girl again. She was covering her face while crying. Then I saw the mother, her face was beaten, still more blows by the fist. She was begging him to stop. "No more, please no more." Another white flash and I saw the girl again. She was getting something. The father ran after her. She grabbed a knife. The father grabbed her hand. Then another flash and I saw the pot of boiling water. It was tipped over by the father’s arm. It landed on the girl. More unbearable screaming. Then there was another flash and I saw a number. 829. Then it all went quiet.

I opened my eyes; my heart was pounding in my chest. What was that? Still shivering all over I got up and went down to the kitchen to get some water. The same pictures kept coming back before my eyes. The girl burnt, the mother screaming. I tried to grab for a glass in the dishwasher, but had to bend over in agony. The pain they were feeling. It was like I was feeling it, as well. The horror of that chain of events. It was like I couldn’t escape it again. It was so incredibly painful.

I threw myself on the floor begging it to stop, screaming for it to go away and leave me alone. Please make this stop. Please! I was crying now. All the emotions, all the feelings of that dream had to come out somehow. This was the only way I knew.