Costly Obsession: Animalize by Sasha Pruett
Chapter Thirty Three
There is a way which seemeth right unto man, but the end there of are the ways of death.
Proverbs 14:12
From the moment Wendy stood by Jeremy’s broken door, staring into his empty room, confusion and panic like she never knew before consumed her entire being. She stood there, frozen, nearly catatonic, as the minutes ticked by; her child was gone. It wasn’t until a delicate hand gently squeezed her shoulder that she finally returned to this plane, turning to face a concerned Susanne, seeing such compassion in her new friend; Wendy fell into her arms, shaking uncontrollably.
“He’s gone Sue... he’s gone.” Tears streamed down her face and sobs choked her words. The thought of her son, her only child, the creature her husband was hunting nearly paralyzed her. What if they shot him, Aaron had to know, she had to stop him, to save her baby.
Wendy broke from Susanne’s comforting embrace and tore down the stairs as quickly as she had raced up them, franticly searching for the phone.
“Wendy, what are you doing?” Susanne had checked on her own two boys, thankful for their safety, then followed after Wendy.
“I have to call Aaron. I have to tell him... to warn him... stop him... Jeremy!”
“Wendy, listen to me. I can’t begin to imagine how hard this has to be for you and I don’t blame you for any of the feelings you’re having even if you end up hating me for what I’m about to say, but you can’t call Aaron.”
“WHAT? Are you crazy?”
“Wendy wait, listen. Do you have a reversal spell?” Silence. “Well do you?”
Wendy dropped her head, staring at the floor feeling like a failure.
“Then how is telling him going to help?”
“But it’s our son!”
“I know that, but telling Aaron that it’s his son out there isn’t going to help matters will it? He’ll be so concerned and angry and everything else that he won’t be able to concentrate on what they went out there to do, possibly getting himself, your son, and everyone else with him hurt or killed. Now is that what you want?”
“What do you care about my child, yours are safe and sound upstairs where mine should be and the only man out there you care about is Jonathan.” Wendy snapped back at her, tears still streaming down her face.
“Do you really think that? Really? Or is that the fear and anger talking. Look Wendy, face facts, the truth is that you’re the only hope your son has and you’re no good to him, or anyone else like this, you still have a job to do so I suggest we work together and bring all our guys home safe and sound.” Susanne stared at her, holding her gaze and her shoulders until she could feel the tension ease in Wendy’s body. “Alright, let’s get back to work.”
“No offense Sue, but how can you help?” Defeated and worn Wendy wiped away her tears.
“I may not know Latin, but if you write down a few key words to look for I can be searching while you’re translating.”
“That’s a good idea, it might just work,” she sniffled, “and Sue...thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
The two women were like machines. Back and forth, searching, finding, translating, and searching again and before they knew it they had the answer they were looking for. Only then did she make the much anticipated, yet dreaded call to her husband, little did she know how bad and yet how perfect her timing really was. The signal to Aaron’s phone was worse than terrible and it took three tries before she got past his voice mail and reached him, but the challenges only continued. The screams and echoes that reached Wendy’s ears chilled her blood, but she couldn’t let that distract her. She ignored the signal losses and broken screams and dove right in, purging her well of info, scared that if she stopped even once and allowed what was, could be, may be happening on the other end of the phone to reach her mind she would lose her resolve and fall to pieces, unable to finish, unable to help those she knew and those she loved. Until the crash that is. It was then she noticed the silence. Not the empty silence of being disconnected, but the haunting kind of silence. All she could do was listen intently and pray.
It seemed like an eternity before she heard her husband pick up the phone and was assured he at least was still alive, but new screams had erupted from the beast stopping her heart.
“Aaron, are you there? Are you alright? What’s going on? Is Jeremy... did you find him... is he...?”
“Wendy, are you there?”
“Yes! Yes, I’m here! What’s going on?”
“Did you find it? Do you have a cure?”
“Yes, we found it. I have it here. Did you find him?”
“Good, bring it. We’re at the caves where the boys found that book. Do you know where I’m talking about? Down by the lake near Scenic Point?”
“Yeah, I believe so. Aaron, what about Jeremy?”
“Get here as soon as you can Hun, we have him, we have our son.” Wendy understood, her fear was confirmed. No time for ‘good bye’s or ‘I love you,’ Wendy was off the phone and scrambling for her keys.
“The house is yours tonight, stay here and keep your boys safe. I’ll call you as soon as I can.”
Susanne hugged her friend, “Be careful.”
“Of course.” With that she was out the door and on her way.