Peek into The Beckoning

“I have you, I own you, and you can never escape.” A gravelly voice disturbed the silence, paused for a breath, then snidely whispered, “Come to me, my child. Come to me and relinquish your pathetic soul to my realm.” A flickering light from an adjoining room illuminated a shrouded figure in the doorway, but it failed to cast his shadow to the floor. As the figure dryly beckoned, his crippled hand patted his shrouded heart. “Come to me, so I can free you. Come to me, my deprived child of life.”

Announcing four o’clock in the morning, menacing gongs from a grandfather clock chimed far slower than the beating heart of a woman cowering against its vibrating glossy cabinet. As the woman fearfully watched the figure, she knew that fleeing would have been logical, but her willpower wasn’t strong enough to resist what he once provided her. However, that was in another time in her life when she needed someone to care for her, back, when her naïve innocence cried out for love.

Noticing that he had aged unkindly since they last spoke, she suddenly felt beset with guilt for casting him aside. In an attempt to rekindle their estranged love, her sweaty hand hesitantly slid beyond the edge of the darkness. Once her fingertips touched his aura, she came forward and begged his forgiveness. Unable to keep from inhaling his alluring scent of wild sunflowers, she realized that he had never forgotten her. No, he never forgot any of his special friends, but she was more than just special—she was a very important puzzle piece that would ultimately complete his future.

“Carla, I’ve missed you, have you me?” His labored lungs inhaled her sigh of awkward relief, which thankfully, rejuvenated his weather-beaten features. Hoping she saw how much he still loved her, his decayed hand brushed against her flushed face. When his eyes winked empathy to her needs, her tears moistened his emaciated fingers, and as hoped, she succumbed to his missed touch.

However, when his frayed sleeve slid across her barren shoulder, she cringed. “No, my childhood playmate, you do not have my soul, and you never shall. Be gone from my sight, for you’ll not pilfer my love again.” To escape his beguiling power, she closed her eyes, but an odor of rancid decay began suffocating her breath.

Coughing for fresh air, she opened her eyes and found herself safely tucked under her blankets. Damning the nightmare, she sought her husband’s warmth, but when she slid her hand toward him, the cool sheets instantly soured her stomach with the reality that he wasn’t there. No, he wasn’t, and just thinking of him drenched her pillow with tears because, like other loved ones, she was on the verge of losing him. However, unlike those she had already lost, there was a way of saving him.

Her lousy luck, a night of drinking forced her to stagger to the bathroom. Grateful that she forgot to turn off the TV, she used its snowy screen for light while its annoying static masked the silence. When she finished relieving herself, her face fell to her legs in tears until a harsh shiver prodded her upright. Although it gave her goose bumps, her shaky hands splashed icy water to her bloodshot eyes, which not only felt refreshing, it also washed the sweat from the nightmare away.

After spitting the dream’s rancid taste down the drain, her eyes rose to the mirror where she swore she saw her friend’s murkiness engulfing her image. Angrily turning to confront him, she only saw empty darkness, but when she spun back, his hazy fingers were toying with her curls. Knowing that rejecting him was futile, because he would never willingly surrender her soul, she still pleaded with him to release her from his hateful tethers. When his hazy face shook no, her stance wilted to the cold tile floor, and not but seconds later, her sobbing leftovers began condemning him for taking advantage of her naïve innocence. As she cried, her thoughts drifted to the day when they first met and how he asked for nothing in return, except for her love, which he rewarded with his. However, he failed to mention that the price tag for his love would increase as she aged.

On a chilly morning in her fourth spring of life, Carla’s mother told her to go outside and play. Doing so, fear kept her from venturing beyond the safety of her backyard. Because she had no friends, and her older sister was at school, she began playing hide-and-seek with an imaginary friend. While scolding him for refusing to appear, a noise spun her attention toward a sun-bleached fence. At first, she froze with fright, but curiosity melted her fear when she realized that someone was playing peek-a-boo with her.

Just as a finger poked through a knothole, a grating voice said, “This little piggy went to market.” Magically enough, the finger turned into a tiny pink piggy and danced joyfully on the wood.

“This little piggy stayed home.” Another finger shyly peeked out of the knothole before it changed into a piggy.

“This little piggy had roast beef.” Yet another piggy peeked, walked into view, and then rested his full-fingered belly on the wood.

“This little piggy had none.” Another piggy showed, but this one sat, as if scorned and lonely.

“This little piggy cried, ‘Wee-wee-wee,’ all the way home.” Full of happy energy, another piggy bounced about the hole.

The peek-a-boo figure walked toward the open gate, but paused because of Carla’s obvious uncertainty. However, when she didn’t run from his ominous features, he crept closer, and as hoped, he captivated her attention when his black satin shroud swept the dirt and tossed dusty red static about the air. His deep voice then soothed any fear she might’ve had when he asked, “Do you want to play with my wee piggies?” Her fears subsided even more when the piggies peeked out from under his shrouded sleeve and gestured her closer.

As she cautiously neared, she felt more at ease when he flipped his hooded shroud off and let his blonde hair fall into his boyish face. When his smoky eye playfully winked, she asked, “I’m Carla, what’s your name?”

Squatting until his budding smirk was level with her smile, he softly said, “Hi, Carla, you cannot pronounce my name, but you can call me Schatten. I heard your birthday wish when you blew out the four candles on your cake, which must’ve been hard, but you truly wanted it and I’m here to fulfill the flame’s smoky wish.”

Carla thought of blowing out the candles with all her strength after wishing for a special friend. Sadly, it was the only good part about her party, oh, and getting a red bike from her grandfather, with of course, training wheels.

Schatten took Carla’s hand. “You must keep our friendship a secret or I’ll vanish. Can you do that?”

“Oh, yes, I can.” Her petite hand shook his piggy hand and sealed a bond of friendship, which to her, would last throughout her childhood; to him, it would last throughout eternity.

Happy to have found a playmate, she was soon playing games that nobody else had time to play. They played in a makeshift playhouse of cardboard boxes and old blankets and then played tag around piles of decaying wood and rusting pipes. His mighty hands gently pushed her on a swing, twirled her about, and then tickled her until she cried happy tears. When she tired, he showed her how to see different images within the puffy clouds. Soon, she saw zoo animals, butterflies, dogs, cats, and fire-breathing dragons. As the sky painted itself solid blue, a nap replenished her playfulness.

Soon after waking, Schatten took Carla to a patch of overgrown grass. Amid yellow flowers, white fuzzy suns blew their warmth within the breeze. Carefully plucking a slim green stem, he brought the fuzzy sun to Carla’s eyes. “Do you know what this flower is?”

She shuffled her feet before bashfully answering. “My daddy says it’s a weed that plants more weeds and never to touch them.”

“No, not at all, it’s a wishing flower, much like your birthday candles. To guarantee the success of your wish, you must carefully pull it from the soil. After making a silent wish, blow the seeds into the breeze.” His steady hand lowered the fuzzy sun to her lips. “Remember how you wished for me when you blew out the candles on your birthday cake?” Seeing her nodding, he went on. “Blow the fuzzy seeds into the breeze, like you blew out the candles. If your wish plants just right, it will come true, but always be careful in what you wish for because even bad wishes sometimes come true.”

Secretly wanting to test him, she looked around until she spied a hidden desire. As her cheeks filled with air, her lips puckered, and then she blew as hard as she could. Watching the fuzzy seeds dance about the air, she kept her eye on one floating behind a tree with a tree house. She often wished to play inside the house, but nobody, not even her father, ever took the time to lift her to it.

Inhaling her unspoken wish, Schatten’s youthful hands of aged time lifted her to a branch. Seconds later, he sat next to her. Looking at the yard below, she felt as if she were on top of the world. To thank him for satisfying the blown wish, she gave him the first of many kisses.

From out of nowhere, a buzzing wasp almost made her fall, but thankfully, Schatten steadied her. When it flew into an open window of the tree house, she carefully scooted across the branch to follow it. Once inside, she saw the wasp hovering over a dusty comic book on a table. A breeze was fanning the pages of a colorful battle; however, the battle couldn’t go beyond page nine because a rock kept a blonde man kneeling at the mercy of a shadowy villain. Looking at the comic and the rock, she thought that a boy who lived here must’ve forgotten them when he moved away, which meant they were now hers.

Watching her touch the painted green name, Schatten sensed her inability to read, so he said, “It says Tony.”

“Where is Tony now?”

“I don’t know.” He spun away to hide his fiery eyes. No, he didn’t know where Tony’s soul was, although he knew exactly where his body was. However, losing Tony’s soul was a loss that he never took well, and despite the cost, he vowed to find his soul and then punish those who were responsible for taking it.

A spider suddenly dashed out from under the comic and scared Carla, but Schatten quickly calmed her fear by shooing it away. “It won’t hurt you; I won’t let it. It’s here to protect the comic.” He knelt so his eyes could gaze into hers. “Carla, do you trust me?” Even though she met him just this morning, she nodded yes. “Then trust this; I won’t let anything or anybody harm you. Nobody will be as close to you as I shall be. We’ll be best friends until you die,” his voice lowered, “and then even longer.”

He placed the rock into her hand, cupped his hand over hers, and then inhaled the essence the rock emitted when it mixed with her sweaty innocence. Excitedly spying into her eyes, he saw his future twinkle within them. Yes, this child, the daughter of a grown friend, would help him find his missing playmates and make his future right.

While savoring Carla’s essence, he heard her mother yelling for her to come in for lunch. Although Carla wanted to stay, Schatten helped her down with a promise to await her return. Why not? He had waited patiently for years already; he could wait a little longer. Watching her bounce toward her house with the comic book and the rock in her hands, he snickered that everything was finally back on track.

After hiding her new treasures, Carla went into the dining room. Reluctantly taking a cup from her mother, she sneered at the thought of the chalky powered milk, but looked into her mother’s distant brown eyes and still said, “Thanks.” When her mother turned away, she gleefully popped the filmy milk bubbles that clung to her cup, but when her mother turned back around, she quickly stifled her giggles.

Throughout lunch, thoughts of playing with her new friend, rather than staying inside with her gloomy mother, made her hastily eat. Noticing grape jelly oozing from Carla’s sandwich and down her chin, her mother sarcastically asked, “What’s the big hurry?”

Not wanting to betray Schatten, Carla shrugged her shoulders, mumbling that she was just very hungry. She was, because she didn’t have breakfast, and lunch was late. When she finished, she quickly cleaned the table to escape her mother. Before she ran outside, she double-checked her hidden treasures for something to do tonight because lately, her parents often sent her to her room after dinner. Their reasoning was that she made annoying noises or wouldn’t stop roughhousing with her sister, although she thought that they just wanted to get rid of her, but now she wouldn’t be so bored.

Once outside, a breeze ruffled her worn-out pastel dress, but when she couldn’t find her new friend, it floated motionlessly to her legs. Believing that he didn’t keep his promise, as most people she knew didn’t, she fell amid the weeds in tears. While repeating a silent wish for him to return, her whimpering breath blew fuzzy flowers into the breeze.

On the verge of giving up, a whisper stole her sadness. “Carla, I’m over here.” Turning around, she saw piggy fingers peeking around a tree. “Did you tell your mother about me?”

“No.” Her sheepish reply satisfied him, and within minutes, they were playing again.

Over the next few weeks, she learned many games, but she always got Schatten to play her favorite—hide-and-seek. While playing one morning, boyish laughter on the other side of the fence made Carla cringe closer to Schatten. Though he already knew, he asked why a simple little boy terrified her. She whispered that Ben called her ‘Goldilocks’ and teased her because she couldn’t ride a bike or skate without falling. After she admitted her hatred for this ten-year-old boy, she confessed that she wished for something bad to happen to him.

As Schatten listened to Carla, he spied through the fence toward three boys lighting firecrackers in anthills. Although the boys were friends with one another, the parents didn’t care for the uncontrollable foster-child, Ben, whose jet-black hair dangled into icy blue eyes that spied threateningly with an unwholesome glint. When Ben excitedly cackled as ants exploded into the air, Schatten snickered that another of Carla’s wishes was about to come true.