Chapter 15

Lisa stood on the sand, looking down at her mother. Béla was simply lying on the ground. Her eyes were open and she was conscious, but she wasn’t radiating any emotion – no thought, no feeling – she simply wasn’t functioning.

“Hey!” Lisa said, rather loudly. “Wake up, Mom!” She waited another moment.

“Helloo!” Lisa shouted into her mother’s head with her mind. “What’s wrong with you?”

Béla blinked, then blinked several more times as she seemed to wake up. She looked around, dazed. Her eyes finally focused on her daughter bending over at her waist and glaring down at her. “What are you doing here?” she asked, her voice sounding gravelly and unused.

Lisa flashed an image of a confused looking Alicia trying to read the instructions on a box of pancake mix.

“My step-mom doesn’t cook!” she exclaimed, in her typical teen-age fashion. “And you made me promise to stop teleporting cold cuts from the deli! I haven’t eaten all day!”

“She’s not your step-mother,” Béla said, picking out something she could respond to.

“Her son’s father is my dad,” Lisa explained, acting surprised that she had to, “so that makes her my step-mom!”

“Go home and order a pizza or something,” Béla told her.

Lisa just looked at her in typical teenage disgust.

‘Go home and work it out between the two of you!’ Béla commanded with her mind. She tried to get up. Lisa moved forward to help her. She suddenly backed away.

“Wow!” Lisa exclaimed. “You really stink!” She backed away, choking the smell of her mother out of her mouth and nose.

“Go home!” Béla said, once again. ‘I mean it!’

“Fine! I’m gone!” Lisa exclaimed. “I’ll teach step-mommy how to make pancakes!” She vanished. ‘Jeez!’

Béla, now upright, staggered unsteadily over to the tent where she’d found Jake this morning. The sun was almost straight overhead, now, making it around eleven in the morning, she estimated. She grimaced at the buzzing it made in her head, grateful that it was in the ‘soft’ part of its eleven-year cycle.

Jake wasn’t there. Béla stood, looking at the empty campsite and becoming angrier by the minute. ‘You can’t treat me like that and then just walk away!’ she fumed, becoming more furious with him.

She angrily pulled off her ruined sarong and threw it on the ground. He’d sullied her. He’d degraded her. And then he’d thrown her away! She could forgive him the first two, but not for throwing her away – not for leaving her!

With her body now charged with pure female fury, she formed her wings and launched herself into the sky. She spotted his tracks leading out across the mesa and flew toward where he had to be.

Miles away, Jake staggered and fell. He crawled back up on his feet. There were only a couple more miles to the crevasse. No one would ever find him. He should have done it the last time he was up here. Then he’d have never had the opportunity to wound her soul like he had.

Watching the ground more closely, he put one foot in front of the other. He could already see the small cliff face. Soon he would be able to see the drop off. Soon, he would atone for ruining her life, for crushing the spirit of the woman he loved more than life itself. He kept walking.

Far ahead, Béla saw her target. She’d been furiously beating the air with her wings for more than twenty minutes now, and she hadn’t worked off any of her anger and upset with him. If anything, she was just now getting warmed up. Her target grew quickly in front of her as she neared him. ‘Hit him fast and hit him hard! You fucking bastard!’

She didn’t make the mistake she’d made when she was hunting that monster Stoker after he’d killed her baby. She approached, gliding silently until she was almost above him, then vanished her wings back into arms. She arched down toward him like a high diver, picking up speed rapidly. She dropped quickly, not screaming her rage at him until she made contact. She struck him squarely in the back, violently slamming him forward and down into the sandy rock.

“You Son-of-a-Bitch!” Béla screamed at him. “Nobody treats me like that!”

Jake struggled to rise up, trying to get his face out of the sand so he could breathe. Screaming her rage at him, Béla dropped down on his right shoulder, breaking his shoulder blade. With her flat of her palm, she hit him in the back of his head, driving his face back down into the sand. She began to pummel him on his back and head.

After a moment of this punishment, Jake managed to turn over. As soon as he did, he realized his mistake. Now she could reach his face and stomach. She kicked him hard in the gut, jamming her big toe against the knuckle in her foot.

Wincing in pain and with most of her rage spent on beating him up, she stopped, limping back and forth in front of him, snarling every bad name she could think of at him.

“You ruined my favorite sarong!” she yelled at him when she finally ran out of all the swear words in all the languages she knew. “My father gave me that!” She leaped at him again, knocking him backwards, pounding on him with her fists. Jake finally got a good grip on each wrist. Now all he had to do was watch out for her feet as she kept trying to kick him.

“You know,” he gasped as he twisted her wriggling body around against his in a half-nelson, “For as old as ... you are ... you can’t ... fight ... worth ... a fuck!”

He held her tightly as she twisted around, trying to break his grip on her. She finally succeeded, but only because he couldn’t use the full strength of both arms with one broken shoulder blade.

They stood, panting heavily, glaring at each other.

“I told you to leave the dress on,” he said, daring to infuriate her further.

“You freed me, you bastard!” Béla spat back at him. “I don’t have to give a fuck what you want!” She launched herself at him again, snarling ferociously. Jake grabbed her arms, wincing in pain as his shoulder blade, almost healed, cracked with the pressure of trying to hold on to her as they hit the ground. Jake managed to roll over on top of her, effectively pinning her down.

“But you do...” Jake grunted. “That’s what binds you...”

She snarled her rage and frustration at him, trying to reach him with her teeth, now.

“Stop fighting!” he yelled at her.

“No!” she shouted back. “I’ll tear your eyes out and feed them to you!”

Jake dared to sit back a little, still holding tightly on to her wrists. “That’s the dumbest thing you’ve ever threatened to do!” he said. ‘Stop being so angry!’

Béla snarled at him one more time, then lay completely limp beneath him. Jake was too smart to let go. There was still too much fury in her eyes.

“Now you’re acting like the girl I married,” he said to her, grinning through his teeth and panting heavily.

She furrowed her eyebrows, not understanding. “What do you mean?” If you think you’re going to get out of this with some sappy philosophical crap, you are in for the beating of your life!

“Think! Will you?” Jake demanded. “I fell in love with you because, despite everything that has ever happened to you, you still stayed true to yourself.”

“Fuck! You don’t even know what that means!” she spit at him. She struggled furiously to get loose again, but his weight and his grip on her wrists was too strong.

“Yes,” Jake answered quietly. “I do.

“Now, I’m going to let go,” Jake told her. “The fight is over. Okay?” Béla struggled against his grip for a second, letting him know...

‘It’s not over!’

“Promise me you won’t fight anymore,” Jake told her. He waited, still holding her tightly.

After a moment, she relinquished, sullenly. “Alright. I promise!”

He slowly let go of her, pretty sure she’d keep her word, but still being careful. As soon as she could, Béla scooted backward a few feet away from him on her bare rump. She sat and glared at him, ignoring the fresh cuts on her butt from sliding across the rocks.

Jake flexed his shoulder, making sure that it healed properly. It seemed all right, which was good. He didn’t want to have to break it again to reset it.

“I was afraid I’d damaged your spirit,” Jake said, checking out his bruises. “I’m glad to see you’re all right.”

“I was certain I was going to kill you,” Béla informed him. “In fact, I’m still thinking about it!” Her body was still shaking from the adrenaline overload.

“You told me you knew what it was like; being a slave,” he said. “So what are you so upset about?”

“I’m not upset about you enslaving me!” she spat. “But you can’t do that to me, and then just leave!” She got up and was advancing toward him again, her teeth clenched.

“You promised no more fighting!” he yelled, bracing for her assault.

“That fight’s over!” she shouted back. “This is the next one!” She launched herself at him. She got one good punch past his defense and socked his jaw. She broke two bones in her right hand doing it and it felt great! She threw another punch at him, using her other hand.

Suddenly, Béla was on fire! There was a solid wall of flame between her and Jake. Through it, she saw Jake slapping at flames. His jacket was on fire. He quickly stripped it off.

They were suddenly illuminated like the sun was only ten feet away. The ground began shaking so hard, Béla lost her footing and tumbled onto her side. She bounced around on the ground, staring at the brilliant umbrella of fire surrounding her.

As suddenly as it appeared, the fire was gone. The ground around her in every direction was smoking, as was Jake’s discarded jacket and shirt.

The flaming body floating a few feet in the air next to them became Lisa. She was furious! She was naked, having burnt her clothes off when she flared.

Béla felt her daughter’s angry mind flood into hers.

‘Try to teleport!’ Her daughter angrily commanded.

Stunned by the power of Lisa’s adolescent mind, she tried to obey her daughter’s command. She reached into the teleportation zone. Scorching white fire greeted her mind and she flinched back out.

“Good!” Lisa snarled out loud.

Then Béla screamed out as an almost molecule-sized ball of fire ignited inside one of her shoulder sockets.

“Now, you can’t escape by flying, either!” Lisa said to her. “You told me to work it out with my step-mom! Now I’m telling you! Work out whatever the fuck is wrong with the two of you!” She shouted it both verbally and into her parents’ minds, as well. “I’m not going to be the product of a broken home!” Lisa vanished, leaving behind a brilliant fireball that quickly burnt itself out as it rose in the air above them.

Jake started picking himself up off the ground. “She takes after you, I see,” he commented, panting as he pretended to dust his arms and chest off while he walked toward his stunned wife lying on the ground in front of him.

“What did she mean, ‘escape’?” Béla asked. “Escape from what?” She looked up at Jake. His mouth was wide open. He was radiating awe, wonder, and some fear.

Béla quickly got to her feet, favoring her left shoulder and the tiny blazing fireball that flared up every time she moved her arm. She joined Jake in her wonder at what they saw.

They were both standing on the ground, but it only extended a few meters away in all directions. For the next hundred feet, there was a huge circle of...

Nothing!

Beyond that, the ground continued normally.

Jake walked over near the edge, then got down on his hands and knees. He crept to the edge of the ground and looked down. Béla felt a flash of terror as she watched him scoot quickly backwards, away from the edge.

“What is it?” she asked.

Jake suddenly burst into hilarious laughter, almost rolling on the ground. “That damned Tri-d!” he finally was able to say. He created a cartoon image of where they were and how their daughter had done it so Béla could see.

That stupid duck and his loyal piggy sidekick were fighting the Mad Martian! Every second or so, each one would produce a larger weapon, escalating their warfare to a greater level of destruction. When the smoke cleared, each warring contestant found himself standing on a tall, narrow section of ground with everything around them completely vaporized.

Béla laughed at her daughter’s ingenuity.

“She nuked us!” Béla exclaimed. “And then protected us with a force field.”

“Wow! That takes a lot of power,” Jake said, sitting back up. “Can you do that?”

Béla just looked at him. Then she shook her head, her mouth still open in wonder.

“Are you still mad?” he asked, daring to bring up their earlier confrontation.

Béla thought for a moment. “No,” she told him. “I’m hurt. You left me. What the hell were you doing out here, anyway?”

Jake was unable to shield his thoughts as his wife looked at him. They were still in too much turmoil.

“You were going to kill yourself?” Béla asked incredulously as what he was trying not to think about slapped her in the face. She got up and strode toward him, spitting her words at him. “Here, you jerk! Gimme the damned gun! I’ll do it for you!” She held out her hand expectantly.

“Up yours,” Jake said, not believing she’d actually shoot him. Béla reached down and started searching through his jeans. “Keep doing that and something else might go off,” he suggested, trying to lighten her mood.

Fuming, Béla stood back up. “Where is it?” she demanded.

He felt around, then looked around. He shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know,” he said finally. “Probably back there in the dirt where you knocked me down.”

Béla started to walk over to where their fight had begun. The wind picked up and the ground moved threateningly beneath them. She stood, legs wide, waiting for the quake to subside.

‘You don’t have much time... ‘ they both heard in their heads.

“She’s watching us. Well, I guess we should talk, huh?” Jake suggested, walking over to stand next to Béla. “The subjects seem to be ‘enslavement’ and ‘abandonment’. Which do you think we should tackle first?”

“You left me, you bastard!” she said, her voice sounding less angry and sadder.

“Abandonment, it is, then,” Jake replied, sitting down. He patted the ground next to him. Glaring at him sullenly, Béla sat down facing him. She was naked. She stank. She was covered with dirt. It occurred to Jake that she’d never looked sexier.

‘Yes, she has!’ he realized as he remembered how she looked just before she lit into him that last time. He realized that the best part of their fight had been when he was holding her close as she twisted around trying to free herself from his grip.

“Is that all you think about?” she asked, unable to avoid seeing the images he was unintentionally projecting. “How many different ways you can fuck me?”

He nodded. “Um, yeah, pretty much ... Yeah...”

Béla started to backhand him, but he easily caught her arm before she connected. He dared to laugh at her small effort, knowing she could kill him with just a thought.

She dropped her arm down as he relaxed his grip, then just glared at him. He grinned at her.

“Why!” she demanded quietly. “Why did you walk away like that?”

Jake’s face became more serious. Béla watched as he remembered standing over her as she was covered in urine, the exotic dye in her dress running madly down her beautiful legs. He knew that he had done this to her. The thought sickened him.

But what sickened him more was that she had let him do it. There was no pride, no fierce independence as she knelt on the ground before him. She was just a receptacle for his urine.

“All right,” she said quietly as she received his thoughts. “That was a mistake – agreeing to be your slave. But why did you leave?”

“Can’t you see?” he cried. “I couldn’t stand what I did to you! What you let me do!”

“Oh, so this is my fault?” she asked, raising her eyebrows. She realized she was going to have to hit him again and started to get up.

“No! Of course not!” Jake denied vehemently. “I left...” He took a deep breath. “I left so I wouldn’t hurt you any more! God! You’ll let me do anything to you. You proved that this morning. I pushed you as far as I could, and you just took it. I realized that I could probably ask you to cut off a leg and you’d do it.”

“Not hardly,” Béla murmured. She listened, not arguing, not certain that she believed him. “Not anymore.”

“Do you think we should part company?” he asked her.

Béla looked up at him suddenly. There was fear in her eyes.

“God! That’s exactly what I mean!” he exclaimed. “You need me too much! You even came back from the dead to be with me!”

“So what?” Béla demanded, rounding on him now. “So what if I did? Why should that scare you away from me? I want to be with you! Why do you keep pushing me away? I know you love me! I can see it in your head. Sometimes that’s the only thing that keeps me with you.”

“Do you love me?” Jake asked, surprising her.

She blinked as the question slapped her in the face. “You shouldn’t have to ask,” Béla said, her voice softer now. “You know I do. I wouldn’t put up with you, otherwise. God, you’re such a goddamned jerk!”