Chapter 5 The News and the Deceit

CHAPTER 5

The News and the Deceit

I think it's part of Murphy's Law, I really do. Those weren't my first thoughts as I fumbled with my cell phone at 11 at night. I'd had a peaceful hour of sleep. Now I was awake, sort of. My phone was nothing fancy; it didn't even have a slide out key board. Let alone the internet. So its loud ring was just that, a ring. It is a truly horrible, ear shattering noise when it pulls you from sleep. I looked at the tiny blue glowing window. It was Sid's parents. I was awake, for them I'd try to rein in my inner grouch…who was suddenly feeling much more extroverted. "Hullo…" I mumbled semi-coherently in to the mouth piece.

Mr. Welch's voice came over dull and monotone, it was empty, and it scared me. "Thanks for giving Marcus the earring Aiden. We are going to need some time as a family here. They…." His voice started to crack; I could hear his tears in his next words. "They found her shoe in the river, in the deeper part where it hits the reservoir." He took another painful breath in. "She's gone Aiden, the police have reopened the case, they are considering the possibility of murder or suicide. I'm sorry Aiden, I need to go." The line went dead.

If you've ever had really bad news, then you'll know the feeling I'm describing now. I just felt numb, my body and my brain were not computing what I'd just heard. It couldn't be true; I'd wake up from this, and find that I had no call from the Welch's on my call log. It had to be a nightmare, Sid couldn't actually be gone….

I found myself in the closet, I don't even remember maneuvering my way to it, but when I looked down and gave notice to what my body was doing I found a bottle of Jack in my hands. It seemed fitting. So I cracked the seal and made my way back to the bed, bottle in hand. Sooner or later my brain would catch up to the panic surging through my body and the consuming pain in my chest, but not tonight.

-back in the underworld�"

I hadn't thought I would set such a self-destructive behavior off in Aiden by planting the shoe in the river. Mostly, I'd just finally realized the only way Sid would ever love me is if her other life was just gone. She'd never give me the time of day if she kept thinking about the things that she wanted to return to. The only option was for everyone to really believe she was gone, only then could she see how really cruel human nature could make people. She could watch her boy and her family move on let her go, live on in memory without questioning the evidence at hand any further than the sorely understaffed police department. I didn't really want the boyfriend to die, but he wasn't a fish�"and even a fish couldn't live in the amount of alcohol he was consuming. He'd be alright for the night though, and maybe I could arrange some sort of intervention if there wasn't improvement. One thing is certain, if he died over all this Sid would never let him go. No, he needed to fall in love with another girl….he needed to break her heart a little. I'm an a*****e, and I know it, but she really will be much happier with me. I can really be the perfect man; I could be anything for her. Right now, that anything happened to be a chef, she'd be awake soon. With the boyfriend/life dilemma being slowly worked on, I needed to really turn on the charm, to be sweet and understanding. I should probably get her out of that cage and into her own room. There isn't really an exit from this place, unless she figured out the portals….the only escape was deeper into the land of sinners and evil souls.

Bringing breakfast down on a tray, carefully prepared and made to look like a five-star restaurant type of meal, I had my hopes up that maybe I'd make some progress with her today. I gently nudged her awake, brushing the hair out of her face as she looked up at me. Several emotions flashed across her face quickly enough that I wasn't sure what to make of it. Anger, hesitation, and a smile…smile? She was happy with my appearance? Or about something….what? She hadn't been happy since I brought her down here. I was definitely confused.

Suddenly her expression changed again as she sat the tray of food down and looked deeply saddened. "Jesse" she addressed me softly, "I miss my family and friends. I feel alone. I don't know if I could love you, and I'm not saying at all that I do. I don't feel anything for you really; I just want to go home. You won't let me do that, but maybe….just so I don't feel so alone, would you hold me for a while…I miss the feeling of someone being there and I just need….comfort." She started crying….this is something I am not very good at dealing with. Yeah I know….Hades, torturer and rapist, Lord of the Underworld, and crying girls make me look like a total pansy. It's just, I don't know what to do with them, if I don't have instructions and I'm not doing my job that is. I slid over carefully next to her and put an arm around her, she surprised me further and scooted into my embrace, moving into a curled up position in my lap and resting her upper body against my chest. This is what I wanted right? Right. Kay. So I put my arms gently around her, half expected her to start inflicting major bodily harm at any moment. The girl is just a girl, but she is NOT by any means a weak human, she packs a punch. I know that from the battle scars she inflicted while I wrestled her down to the portal that leads into my humble little abode. But, she stayed still, she actually snuggled into my chest and her breathing slowed, and her tears stopped, she was, or at least appeared to be calmed by the physical contact between us.

We sat on the floor of her cell like this for several minutes before she spoke. "I'm sure you are really confused Jesse. I'm not sorry I've been terrible to you; you took me away from everything I cared about and that takes time to accept, if I ever can. However, after you told me you loved me last night….I realized I'm desperately in need of just that….I've been isolated so long and stuck in my own head. I need someone to show they care. There's no one else here, and you say that you do, so maybe I will at least try to open myself to the possibility that you could be nice, given the chance. "Her words literally stopped my breath; this was my chance to actually start some sort of relationship with her, saying the wrong thing could bring the whole thing crashing down. I needed to stick to very few and simple words. "I understand how you feel, at least to an extent Sidney. I was here alone too….until I brought you here. I don't use my loneliness as an excuse to have brought you down, but maybe at least, you could see that it is hard to be so alone. I understand at least that much, the need for companionship is and has always been a very driving force for me. I understand that you still do not have any love for me, but maybe I can at least offer you an open ear and more hospitable conditions? I am selfish, and I know it. I can't let you leave, but I'd like to make you as happy as I am capable with me " So…not sort but honest at least…..I start to think I've blown it as silence stretches even longer between us. "I'd like that Jesse, I….I think I'd feel a lot better if I felt I had at least a friend in all of this. This is…..hard." She started to tear up again, so I tried, again out of selfishness, a different approach to end my own personal version of hell. I bumped her chin up gently with my pointer and middle finger and said "Hey, there's another room I've been working on just for you. It still needs some personal affects, but other than that it has to be better than this." I gestured around the bars and stone and down to the rough rock and dirt ground of her holding cell. "Okay" she said, with a small amiable smile on her tear-stained face.

I took her small hand and helped her off the ground. Surprisingly, she kept a loose grip on my hand as I walked her through the crude entryway and out of the part of the cave that I'd kept her in for a year and nearly another month on top of that now. Being a god has its perks, it does mean that I can change my environment at will, it takes energy and I do actually have to do things the mundane way sometimes. I can change a material that is already there, but scientists weren't lying when they said that matter cannot be created or destroyed. I had changed my "home" end of the underworld into a small apartment like interior with stone walls �"I did my best to go for a marble effect�"and I had even made the multiple trips to Home Depot and Ikea for furniture and carpeting, this was before I ever saw Sid though….this was almost immediately after I'd realized that I could recreate the same portal that brought lost or tainted souls into my realm in any realm I wanted, and that it wasn't a unidirectional sort of thing. I could leave, although it was extremely taxing on me, like a human feels like after swimming a really long distance. My body is not made to travel across the realm of the living for extended periods of time….it's a nice workout though. The end result was that I had a place, a home, like most humans did. I liked it, it was worth the trouble. It made my endless existence a little more bearable, and anything that did that was worth the effort tenfold. It was worth tenfold on top of that seeing the look on Sidney's beautiful face. She was obviously surprised by the change in scenery, and she paused a few times down the long hall to touch paintings that I had appropriated and small oil lamps that I had mounted at intervals down the wall. My home was sort of 16th century Europe meets cave. I liked the oil lamps, and it was a lot easier lighting than electrical wiring and some sort of generator would have been. I chose a deep dark red, brown, and black carpet with an intricate scroll pattern. It matched well with the dark colored cave walls and the lighting made the colors appear even richer. I think Sidney must like it too, she seemed to be rather in awe during our walk down the hall. I did admittedly spend a small fortune and considerable effort on the assembly of Sid's bedroom. I kept with the 16th century sort of theme, up to and including one of those cast iron pans that people put hot coals into that warm the foot of old beds. There were several artistically placed oil lamps, a rather beautiful painting of a naked female angel, and the best part of the room, a gigantic bed whose frame was made of a very dark wood, including the canopy. I had selected a deep green and gold for the room, with shades of brown here and there to accent the color scheme. The bed was the focal point of the room with the almost gauzy gold and green canopy and brown silky comforter and pillows. Next to the bed, I'd placed a large vanity that exactly matched the color and style of the bed, it was an old fashioned one made of the same dark wood as the bedframe, and it included a dark wood chair with an intricate scrolling pattern on its back. I told her I wanted her to be as happy as possible with me, that I loved her. I hoped that the bedroom gave a good indicator of the effort I was willing to put in to see her happy.

If nothing else, I knew that she appreciated the room. She walked around the perimeter of it gracing each carefully selected and placed piece with a delicate touch. I coughed lightly to get her attention. "This is your room Sidney, when there is spare time I can bring in some of your things. Is there anything in specific you might want?" Her happy and entranced demeanor faded quickly at my words. "My family might not see me again…..I don't want to take any memory from them. I would rather leave them my things." Seeing sadness darken her eyes and lower her head, I resigned myself to learn of new things that I could bring to this place to make it "hers"

"Perhaps I could bring you some new things for entertainment?" I asked. "I love reading, and writing, and music, but my entertainment is hardly a priority." She responded somewhat curtly. Keeping in mind that kindness and patience would warm her to me I ignored the tone and reassured her that her happiness was very much a priority for me. "I do not like to see you sad Sid, I told you before that I love you. I meant it. I want to see you happy. I think bringing things to you that you do enjoy might help with that, if you would be so kind as to be open to the idea." She smiled a small smile and agreed to experiment with my idea, it wasn't horribly convincing, but I felt happy that she was at least willing to try.

The rest of the day was blissful for me, Sidney was opening up. It was like that rush you get when you breathe in really cold air. It wakes you instantly and almost makes your body ache with the crispness and freshness of it. The small taste of what it would be like to be a real part of Sid's life had definitely awakened something in me, and certainly had left some part of me aching for a stronger bond. I would not rush her though, this had to be done in perfect sync with her feelings or it would ultimately end in complete and utter failure. I listened carefully about her home town and the details of her schooling and family; I even sat patiently through her description of Aiden despite her tears. When the afternoon started fading to evening hours told her I needed to make dinner for us. "Maybe I could help?" She offered. "I do like cooking and I don't want to be idle anymore, I think keeping entertained does help Jesse. You were smart to think of things in that light." That she might stay as contented as she had been during the rest of the day was a cincher for her case. "Follow me", I said with a smile, "I'd actually love the company and the assistance."

We prepared food and talked about different dishes we'd both tried, and sometimes failed, to recreate, and when dinner was done we both went back to Sid's room and ate on the bed, just talking about her life. Although the last few hours were as wonderful as those we had together earlier, I left her after a few hours so that she could sleep and I could check on how things were transpiring top-side.