Somehow, her scream was able to find its way to my normal self, and I stopped, aghast.
She fell to the floor, and I dropped down to see if she was okay.
“Leave me alone!”
That cry and the look of fear in her eyes totally destroyed me. I had been abusing the one living person who loved me.
I sat a couple feet from her, stunned, not even able to apologize, while she slowly climbed to her feet and ran.
She left for Houston a couple days later, and I’d been too ashamed to even call her. I couldn’t face the hate she must have felt for me.
The horrible temper I’d thought I’d left behind had let me know it was still there, maybe forever—a ticking time bomb I’d pushed away but was now back.
29.53 days after its disappearance, the moon popped back into existence. Erika once again was showing her power, and along with the moon, so returned the Golden Luna.
I’d once again have a chance to apologize to Karen Anderson.
Chapter 31
Some people say Erika got what she deserved that day. She never paid much attention to security, and to be honest, none of the rest of us did, either. We were all people who’d been pretty fortunate in life never to have run across violence, except for the occasional fist fight as a teen.
That day, we all grew up.
Except maybe Erika herself, because she never would accept that evil could ever win anything, and every day was an opportunity for her to spread her message to whoever was around her, however they got there.
You had to look around her to see the homeless people who became part of her core team, or the ex-prostitute who kept track of her booking schedule, or the average everyday John Q. Public who formed the foundation of her ministry. She didn’t care what had happened before or the circumstances that befell a person. She only cared about treating every person with respect and love.
Sometimes I’d wonder how she did it, asking questions: Have you ever crossed the street because there was a beggar ahead harassing pedestrians? Have you walked through a dark parking lot and feared somebody might jump out to rob you? Have you ever thought badly of a person because they made a stupid mistake or had to break the law because of the circumstances in which they found themselves?
Erika knew all these things, of course. She never let them interfere with how she treated each and every person she met.
It worked well for her most days.
That day, though, I wondered if the lack of security at the church was going to end her fledgling ministry before it really could fly.
Most of the events of this day were never released to the public until now. That was Erika’s choice.
The morning started off routinely, reviewing the notes Erika had left me for the day. It included stops at two food banks and a sermon at an open-air theater in downtown Aynsville. The theater sat 12,000 people and was the largest arena in the town. I expected it to be full to capacity, because the entire populace supported Erika. They were proud Aynsville was her home, and they wanted to show the world that pride.
I knew the theater, of course, and I was sitting in the planning room sketching out ideas of where I could get the best photos. In the room with me were Erika and Chris Spinnie, the once-homeless drug addict whose sole focus in life now was to help Erika.
When the door opened behind me, I never heard it. I did hear Chris calling out, “Hey, who are you guys?” but even that didn’t cause me any concern. We had people wandering in to the planning room all the time, because Erika never wanted to have any doors keep her from her congregation.
I saw Erika smile briefly, as she likely expected an eager fan, perhaps newly convinced of her messages.
Instead, five men rushed in from the doorway and ran toward us.
Two went for Erika, two for me, and the last one to Chris.
I was totally confused. Nobody ever came to the church to cause trouble, and having those men (all more than six feet tall and huge) grab us and then… I felt something stabbing my mid-section. I had a brief glimpse of a hypodermic needle and then my vision turned cloudy, and I couldn’t balance myself anymore.
Everything went blank before I could issue a single call for help.
The first sensation when I woke was enormous pressure on my chest. It was hard to breathe and for a minute I wondered if I was having a heart attack. It was like a vice squeezing me.
I tried to shake my body, but I couldn’t move my arms. I couldn’t scream for help because something kept my mouth closed.
Panic started to set in. I opened my eyes but my vision was bleary, as if I were looking through a quartz crystal. Nothing made sense. I shook my head and blinked until I could see.
I was still panicking, but by then I was able to piece together what was happening.
There was duct tape tightly wrapped around my face. No chance I could make any noise. I was breathing thinly through my nose, and every breath felt like a struggle.
Ropes tied me to a chair. They were wrapped so tightly, I could barely take in air. It was like a gorilla was sitting on my chest.
What the fuck?
I was in a dark room, but I couldn’t tell if that was from low lighting or if it was night-time.
Erika was to my right, also bound in an identical fashion. She was awake and nodded to me. She must have been awake much longer; she seemed to have passed the panic stage and looked totally calm.
To my left, Chris Spinnie sat, also tied up in the same fashion. She was unconscious. Or dead. I couldn’t tell which.
I couldn’t see anyone else, so at that point I had no idea who had taken us. Even with the two women with me, I felt fear wash over me, and I panicked again, straining without any success against the ropes. All it did was make my breathing more difficult.
After a couple fruitless minutes, I stopped and tried to catch my breath. It occurred to me then that the reason Erika looked calm was that she was forcing herself to relax. I tried to do the same, closing my eyes and trying to think of something peaceful. I thought of an evening I had shared with Karen Anderson. We were sitting on the beach and gazing out to where the sun was setting, halfway below the water.
It was one of the last moments I could recall where I was truly happy.
I calmed myself and re-opened my eyes.
“Welcome back, buddy.”
The voice was from behind me. I couldn’t see whoever it was, but the voice was deep, and my mind wandered to a vision of a professional wrestler.
The truth was much worse.
The man walked slowly between Erika and me, and I got my first glimpse of Colonel Peter Lassiter.
He was tall, maybe six foot three, about forty years old, completely bald, and he looked like he could crush me in his bare hands without breaking a sweat.
He was dressed in a uniform. Very dark blue jacket and pants, a brass U.S. pin on each lapel, and a series of decorations covering his chest. There were a couple of other pins above the decorations, but I had no idea what they signified.
He smiled, a wide grin that told me two things. First, he was enjoying keeping us captive, and second, he had no intention of ever letting us go. He wouldn’t have let us see his face if that were the case.
He carried some kind of military cap in his hands.
“I’ve already introduced myself to Miss Sabo, so let me update you, Mister Abelman. I am Colonel Peter Lassiter, and I am your worst nightmare.”
Then he laughed, a full body laugh, bending over at the waist because he thought he was so fucking funny.
“We’re going to be good friends.”
I had my doubts about that.