Chapter 1: November 12th, 1983

It was a new day in Alpine, California, several miles from San Diego. The sun was shining brightly, and the birds were chirping outside of Rex’s one-bedroom home. Rex, a man born in 1963, was a vibrant twenty-year-old that was enjoying his day off. He stood by his reptile enclosure that held his Nile monitor that he took care of. He was busy petting the top of his pet’s head, watching her reactions to the stimuli she was receiving.

Rex, a man born from a middle-class family, was used to repairing, driving, and operating motorcycles in his spare time. A plumber, he was well established with his home. He wiped his short cut brown hair as he went and got a dead feeder mouse to feed to his pet.

His radio that was on the other side of the living room began to play one of his songs called Modern Life by Devo. He reached into the feeder box as he pulled out the dead mouse. The transparent walls of the lizard’s enclosure allowed Kira’s eyes to see the mouse he held as he brought it to the top of the pen. Kira, hungry and ready to eat, ran to the glass wall as she charged up to the wall. He dangled the dead mouse to the monitor. He lowered the mouse as she leaped up, trying to grab it.

“Hungry today, aren’t you, Kira?” he asked her out loud.

He shifted the mouse over as he tossed it over to the other side of the enclosure. Kira then ran over and grabbed the dead mouse in her jaws. She then proceeded to swallow the mouse as quickly as possible.

“I will need to go to the pet shop to get more feeder mice, Kira. You are getting bigger and bigger.”

The Nile monitor was focused on scarfing down the mouse as he turned around and walked back to his couch in the living room. He took his carton of cigarettes and pulled out one to put on his lips. He then pulled out a zippo lighter and ignited his cigarette. He rested on his couch as he took in the tobacco smell that filled the room. He grabbed his remote controller as he turned on his TV. As the new Sanyo TV that he got turned on, a commercial came up. He breathed out the smoke as he thought about the plan for the day.

“I really need to quit smoking,” he said to himself as he kept smoking away. The commercial ended as the football game came on. He put the carton of cigarettes beside him on the table as he rested his feet on the footstool.

“Well, ... at least I get a chance to relax for the day,” he said to himself. He wore his comfortable green shirt and blue pants as his shoes rested comfortably.

He continued to smoke his cigarette as the smoke filled the room. He looked at the rack that was on top hanging the wall that held his prized gun, a Franchi SPAS-12 Shotgun. The gun was purchased three years ago, and he made sure to keep the ammunition locked away. The shotgun simply rested on the rack with its stock folded up.

“Speaking of which ... Jeremy said he wanted to go to the shooting the range. I need to give that gun a good use. Still haven’t fired it in two years ... ugh I don’t feel like going anywhere today.”

He looked over to Kira, that was resting comfortably on a large makeshift rock digesting her meal. Rex then looked over the ashtray as he looked at his cigarette that was burning itself lower and lower. He brought it to the tray to tap the ashes. He continued to watch the football game on the TV as he looked at a portrait on a wall that showed him as a young boy with his mother.

“It’s been two years, hasn’t it, mom?” he asked out loud. “I lost dad, then you. I am thankful to be able to take care of myself, but why did the both of you die so young?”

Rex started to cough as he went and covered his mouth. He then looked at his cigarette as he sighed and smashed it into the ashtray.

“Fuck I really need to quit,” he said to himself. He looked over in the living room to see the rolled-up newspaper that he had not read yet. The clock on the wall showed that it was ten o clock right on the dot. He got off the couch as he walked to a nearby chair to pick up the newspaper. He then went to have a seat as he began to unroll it and read the contents of the paper.

“Let’s see here,” as he began to read the paper. “The United States sends cruise missiles to the United Kingdom. Yesterday marks a day in our close relations with the UK when the missiles arrived to help counter any threat the Soviet Union makes on Europe.” He stopped reading as he remarked to himself. “Damn commies, at this rate, we will be nuking ourselves to oblivion.”

He thought to himself as he looked out the window. He was at least ten to twenty miles from a large naval base. San Diego would be one of the first major targets in the United States if Nuclear Armageddon would occur much like the other areas of the United States such as Washington DC and the like. With the Cold War still in full swing, the threat of annihilation was all too real and not to be taken lightly.

“Well, Kira,” as he looked at her. “At least I will know that you will make it if the world comes to an end. You’re a tough lizard.”

Kira turned her head, almost acknowledging his words even though she had no idea what he was saying. By almost a year, she had nearly reached the size of about 4 feet long. Rex looked around the room as he sat back, admiring his home. It was an older home but still looked pretty. The upholstery was showing its signs of falling apart, but a little bit of love and care, and it would be in top condition again. He sat in his living room that connected to his kitchen that led to his bedroom and bathroom. Not far from the living room were the back door that led to the outside and his backyard. The enclosure where Kira resided led to the front door that led to his garage, where his motorcycle resided. There was plenty of room inside his house for more than one person to live in.

“Ehh ... enough reading the news. It will only make me feel depressed. This Cold War will never end,” he said to himself as he threw the newspaper down. “I bet that I could...”

He was unable to finish his sentence as he heard a knock from the door.

“What the devil? Who would come at this time? I don’t have anybody planned ... ah fuck it, let’s see who it is.”

Rex stood up as he went to the door. Kira turned her head to watch her master go to the door. Her tongue flicked in the air as he put his hand on the door handle and turned it. The door slowly opened up as he knew it was most likely some door to door salesman that was trying to sell him more crap that he never needed.

When the door opened up, he got a surprise to see a young woman starring at him.

“Wha ... can I help you?” he asked her as he looked at her from the porch.

The woman had some striking features. As he remarked at her looks, he saw another woman that walked to his next-door neighbor’s house that belonged to Estella, one of a set of twins that came from Mexico and lived comfortably not far from him.

The woman that was standing before Rex looked very reminiscing to a Middle Eastern woman. Her skin complexion was darker but not like women of southern Africa. She had dark hair and wore comfortable clothing with a shirt and shorts.

“Hello, Rex Naismith,” the woman addressed him with a smile. “It is good to see you.”

“Who are you?” he asked her as he looked her over. His eyes scanned her, and his mind began to feel an unusual feeling.

“My name is Renias. I’m your new neighbor that moved into the neighborhood a couple of days ago. I want to get a chance to meet everyone around me. You were next.”

“Odd,” Rex remarked, looking at the Middle Eastern woman. “I don’t recall ever seeing a for sale sign around here on this street. You must be from another block. You must be really going far to meet all your neighbors.”

“I am from the next street over. I wanted to get a chance to meet you. You seem...” she looked him over from his legs as her eyes scanned him with desire. “Quite the man.”

The more Rex looked at her, the more he felt something odd about her. It was like he couldn’t stop looking at her. He shook it off.

“Ummm ... thanks?” he replied. “Hey, how did you know my name? I don’t have it anywhere around here.”

“From your neighbors, obviously. They told me about you.”

“Oh ... right, right, of course.”

“May I come in?” she asked him.

For some reason, the more he looked at her, the more he felt a sense of nostalgia with her. It was a small feeling that seemed to help her in her request to enter his home. “Sure ... I guess,” he told her.

“Thank you, Rex,” Renias complimented him as she entered his home. Her shoes touched the soft carpet as she closed the door behind her.

Rex watched her as she began to scan the inside of his home. “Strange ... this feels ... weird, I barely know you, and I just let you inside my home.”

Renias looked at him. There was a sort of devious smile that appeared on her face as she looked at him. He didn’t feel nervous being around her for some reason. Again he kept shaking it off.

“So ... you look like you come from the Middle East. Arab?” he asked her.

“Egypt actually,” she corrected him with a smile.

“Egyptian, huh? Were you born in the United States, or did you move here?”

“Moved. I came here not that long ago.”

“Oh ... are you a citizen?” as his eyes again looked her over. She was lovely for her shape. There was not even the slightest blemish to her face. She was thin and had long black hair. His eyes even briefly went to her moderately sized chest.

“Yes,” her head turned to the reptilian enclosure that held Kira. “Oh ... you like reptiles?” she asked him with a slight change in inflection in her voice.

“Yes, Kira was given to me by one of the neighbor’s from the neighborhood. His name is...”

“Jeremy...” She finished.

“Oh ... sounds like you already met him. Yeah, he raises Nile monitors. He gave me Kira, and I have been raising her.”

Rex was actually surprised to see a woman that was not even discouraged by seeing a large lizard. To him, most women would have run out of the home or found a quick excuse to leave immediately. Instead, he watched her as she walked up to the glass wall and reached her hand inside.

“Ummm ... be careful, Kira usually only likes to be petted at certain times of the day.”

Nothing was stopping her as her hand went straight to the lizard’s forehead. Her finger began to pet the scaly head as the monitor seemed to enjoy it. Kira’s eyes closed as her thumb rubbed the top of the head. Her head turned as if she was drawn to Renias’s hand. The lizard slowly turned its body as it felt the finger play with her head and neck.

“You know,” he remarked. “You are the first woman that I have ever met that seems to like reptiles.”

“May I hold her?” she asked him.

“Umm ... I guess if she wants to. She seems to like you. I have never seen somebody make good friends with my pets so quickly.”

She stopped petting Kira as she used her other hand and grabbed the back and belly of the large lizard. The lizard herself made no resistance as Renias used her other hand to lift the front portion near her forward legs to lift the lizard up. The forked tongue of Kira flicked in the air as Renisa held her close.

“She just got done eating,” he told her.

“Yeah ... I can tell,” holding the lizard close.

“I guess you like lizards,” he made the obvious comment to her.

Kira was at perfect ease with her. Despite the large size of the lizard, she held her with no difficulty.

“You like snakes?” she asked him.

“Of course. I almost got one before Jeremy offered Kira here to me.”

“Ah, the python, that’s right,” she looked at the lizard closely.

The choice of wording grabbed his attention. “Wait?” He looked at her with bewilderment. “How did you know that I wanted or tried to get a python?”

She shook her head, “My apologies, I figured you were the man who wanted a python.”

That seemed to be a satisfactory answer to Rex as he shook it off. He again looked at her. The next thing that he scanned was something evident to him. He looked at her hand to see if there was a ring on her finger. There was none.

“So ... are you single?” he asked her.

She gave a devious smile to him. It took him back a little bit as he took it as a sign that she might be upset with his question.

“Umm ... sorry, I just met you, and here I am asking ... you know what forget I asked.”

“Yes, I am single. Looking for someone too.”

Her answer took Rex by surprise. “Really?” he said as he quickly dropped his look of surprise. She watched him closely as she was holding Kira to look at him. “I mean ... of course you are single.”

“You are single, too,” she remarked.

Rex almost seemed to blush as he scratched the back of his head. He tried to change the subject.

“Odd ... I just met you. It almost feels too good to be true. Do I know you?”

She walked up to the enclosure as she placed Kira back inside. Kira walked a few feet as her eyes scanned again up at her before she walked by the sun lamp to rest comfortably.

“She wants to have live prey sometime,” Renias told Rex, avoiding the question entirely. “She is tired of the dead rats you give her.”

This again took Rex by surprise. “I have thought of feeding her live rats. It just felt ... wait you know what she wants?” his eyes began to show signs that he was putting it all together. “Oh, I get it. Jeremy must have put you up to this, hasn’t he? Playing with my strings to get at ol Rex, huh?”

Renias tilted her head. “You think your neighbor is pulling some practical joke by sending some wonderful woman to you to play with your pets? I am sorry, Rex, but this is all real. This is not a dream. This is the happy ending to our story.”

Rex was totally clueless about her choice of words. She was an odd woman, but there was something oddly familiar with her like he knew her.

“This is ... too weird...” He stammered as he backed up to his living room. She walked away from the door towards him. Her smile was focused on him as he felt a slight amount of nervousness towards her.

“What is weird, Rex?” she asked as she watched him bump into his chair. He held his position as she stopped to look at him closely.

“I just met you. I don’t know anything about you ... yet ... I feel like somehow I do know you,” he chuckled a little bit. “Maybe ... maybe I met another Egyptian woman, and my mind is just assuming that I am familiar with you because you are Egyptian.”

“Hmm ... perhaps,” she reacted. “Rex ... do you find me attractive?”

He couldn’t believe it. This stranger of a woman came to his home, came inside, and was already making moves on him. He was practically speechless.

“I ... um... , “ he stammered. “Heh, ok, this needs to slow down a little bit. Poor Rex is just a little surprised to have some woman come up to his door and make herself at home. You must be a hell of a neighbor to make companions so quick. I need to get to know you.”

“You are avoiding the question. How about I help you? I find you handsome, Rex,” she said, looking at him.

He nodded to her as his heart started to beat fast. “Th ... thanks. I find you to be very pretty. Can we get to know each other a little bit more before we go any further here? I feel like the winter here in California is not enough to cool the ... rise in temperatures in this home.”

She held a smile at him. She made one big nod to him, “Of course. May I have a seat on your couch?”

“Sure, sure,” he told her, pointing with his hand to the couch. “We can get to know each other a little bit more before...” he stopped his words towards her.

She walked over to the living room as she had a seat by his chair. She sat her butt comfortably as she rested her hands to it. For a second, she almost looked like some queen that sat in a throne. The TV was still on, but the volume was low.

“You like football, Rex?”

“Of course I do,” he said as he walked over and had a seat by another chair. He sat comfortably by a large table that covered the living room. He pushed aside the newspaper that he rested to make room for himself as he looked at her. “I mean ... I am not exactly the sport’s aficionado, but I watch it every once and awhile.”

Her head turned up to look at the rack the wall. “I see your shotgun there.”

“Yeah, I bought it for a couple of years. Never really fired it much.”

She chuckled a little bit, hearing him say that. “I know. It is good that you never had to shoot it a lot. All is well then...”

There was something strangely haunting the way she said it as Rex looked at her with a questioning look. “You don’t like firearms, I take it?”

She shook her head “No not that ... just happy to see that you never had to actually really use it much. Things must be going well for you then.”

“Yeah, I am well. So tell me about yourself, Renias. Where do you work? Assuming where you work at?”

“Saving the world,” she simply replied.

Again Rex was perplexed and almost humored by the way she worded it. He pointed his finger at her and smiled, “Nice try. Do you have a job?”

“Serving and protecting those in need. Saving others from harm. Ensuring others from overstepping their boundaries.”

“So ... police officer?” he asked.

“Hmmm ... you could say that.”

“ ... ok,” he looked at her trying to figure out her game. “It is strange, I look at you, and I feel ... something towards you. Your words make little to no sense. You must be one peculiar woman to make it this far. Heh, you are something,” he chuckled.

She lifted her leg and put it on her knee as she rested her arms comfortably on the armrests. She sat in an almost unladylike manner. Rex simply looked at her again. He began to scratch the back of his neck.

“What is it, Rex?”

“You... , “ he lifted both of his hands open at her. “What is with a woman like you anyway? I have never encountered a woman that behaved like you. It almost feels like...”

“Yes?” she asked as her smile continued.

“You know me somehow ... I know you ... or at least I feel like I know you. You have yet to tell me much about yourself. How old are you?”

“Over thousands of years old,” she simply answered to him.

He chuckled again. “Ok ... you come and introduce yourself to me, tell me you’re my neighbor, and I almost feel like you are not taking this seriously. How old are you?”

“I was born over five thousand years ago.”

He slapped his hands to his knees. He felt he had heard her lie to him and made it evident. He practically curled his lip, looking at her.

“Alright... , “ he replied. “Any sign in your family of mental illness?”

She shook her head, no.

“Alright, smart woman, you want to play this game?” pointing his finger at her but keeping his cool. “How old am I? I bet even you could ne...”

“20 years old. You just had your birthday five months ago.”

Even he just blinked and stared at her. He never told anyone how old he was, not even his other neighbors. Only Jeremy knew his exact age. Her answer only seemed to make him think that she was hired or sent by Jeremy to play some practical joke on him.

“You take me for a fool? Did Jeremy send you here to pull a fast one over me? Try to lure me into some joke, and then he shows up laughing his head after I end up falling head over heels for some woman,” he pointed at her. “Nice try. Where is Jeremy so I can punch him?”

She almost chuckled at him. “It is me and only me, Rex. I am not here to pull any tricks on you,” she opened her hands and arms, looking at him. “I am here to be with you.”

He shrugged his arms at her and sighed. “I mean here I am at my home when a stranger of a woman comes to my home. It is ... weird to see you act and behave in a way like you somehow know me.”

“Are you with Estrella?” she asked him.

“Estrella? ... you mean Estella,” he corrected her.

She gave a questioning look at him. She seemed to be confused not only by the correction but what he said with her name.

“Perhaps you still don’t know everyone in this neighborhood,” he told her. “I guess what you were trying to ask is if I am in a relationship with my neighbor Estella. The answer is no ... maybe if the world came to an end I would go out with her. She is not exactly the type that likes men, though. She prefers ... women at least from what I have seen.”

Renias looked down. “I see,” she whispered something quietly that Rex barely heard her say.

“What was that?”

Her focus looked back at him. “Nothing.”

“That wasn’t nothing. You said something under your breath. It almost sounded like...” he went quiet, and his gaze focused hard on her. “That you said something like... , “ he shook his head.

“Think whatever you want, Rex.”

He crossed his arms and tapped his finger on his arm, giving her a scorned look. “The more and more we talk like this, the more I either want to run you out of my home or ask you to stay and talk some more. The fact that I felt like I somehow saw you before, bugs me,” he slapped his knees. “I feel like it can’t be true. I don’t know you, and I feel that you are here to pull a trick on me.”

Her gaze was relentless towards him as he stood up, almost annoyed at her. He turned around and looked at the portraits on the wall.

“Do you still go to your mother’s grave every two months?” she asked him.

He quickly turned around to look at her in shock. “I never told anyone that. Not Jeremy, not my other family members ... how? How do you know that?”

“You didn’t answer my question, Rex.”

He shrugged, “Yes, I do. I just ... I just couldn’t get over becoming an orphan, that is all.”

“Because you lost your father in the Vietnam War. He died one month before the fall of Saigon. Pointless battle, to lose your father like that. Nonetheless, you pushed on.”

“How do you know this?...”

“What about Christina? Do you go out with each other?”

Rex stomped his foot down. “What is going on? How do you know me? How do you know all this?”

“You like to avoid answering questions.”

“She... , “ he relented. “Has been ignoring my phone calls. I have been dating her...”

“For six months,” she interrupted, finishing his sentence. “You even hoped to marry her one day.”

“Enough!” he yelled at her standing up. He started to breathe hard, almost nervous at her. “You are some psychic woman to read my thoughts to know all this. I am tired to keep asking how; I need to know about you.”

“Of course.”

“Are you married?”

“No.”

“Dating someone?”

“No.”

He shook his head as if she were somehow drilling into his mind seeing him from the inside out. On the one hand, the more she kept asking and telling everything about him, the more he either wanted to drive her out of the home or find out why she knows it. She was an enigma.

“Rex, let me ask you a question...”

“No ... no I am not answering your questions. You ... you ... fuck.”

She watched him turn around, holding his hands up like he was clueless about what was going on.

“I came here for one reason, Rex,” watching him from his back. “I love you.”

He turned to look at her. He waved his hand at her and almost laughed. “You ... love me? We just met! How can you love me?”

“Because I told you before.”

He pointed his finger and chuckled. “No, no, I have not told you that. I just met you and told you no such thing.”

She chuckled again as Rex shook his head. “I know you have feelings for me. I can see it deep down in your soul, the seed ... the buried seed wanting to sprout from you. Your desire for me is strong. I can promise whatever you want as long as you want to be my mate.”

Rex thought she was nuts, but her knowledge of his experiences and life was something that he could not ignore. How could she know all this? Why was she talking in this fashion? Was she some physic? Only he could speculate. He was angry, curious, and nervous with her all at the same time that his mind and emotions had to figure out.

Chapter 2 »