The Bonding Chronicles Ch. 19

"Two weeks, and then I'll know, right?"

With a chuckle, Andrew nodded his affirmation. "Two weeks sounds more than fair. Thank you, Mrs Rose."

Turning towards his desk, Andrew stopped at Allison's, asking, "I need to hit the store before I head home, so if you're coming over to study tonight, could you try and arrive about an hour later?"

"Yeah, sure. Whatever."

It was a short and brash response, but not unexpected.

"Thanks, Alli. Seeya tonight."

Even Allison's sour mood couldn't dampen Andrew's chipper attitude. School was over and he was about to hang out with all of his friends, heading into his favorite part of the day. After making the same request of Seth, and texting Bruce to inform him of the delay in their plans, he re-locked his empty project locker and looked up the phone numbers for a few local businesses.

The school lacked the tools he needed to pursue his latest idea, and he hoped that with a little verbal magic, he might be able to find what he needed. Something about the idea just felt right, and the more he considered it, the more excited he became.

By the time the bell rang, he was almost bouncing with anticipation as he raced to his car, eager to meet up with Stewart and begin his evening. He had already called and talked with the first craftsman from his list by the time Stew came out from the school, the laughter from the other end of the phone doing little to sullen his mood as he greeted his young friend and hung up.

"Hope you don't mind if we swing by the store before heading home. Gotta pick up some supplies."

Opening the door and jumping into the passenger seat, Stew almost screamed, "Hells-to-the-no!" as he fastened his seat belt and looked out the windshield.

Andrew turned on the ignition and dialed the second number, the sound of ringing echoing out through the speakers as the car pulled away from the school. One way or another, Andrew was determined to explore his latest desire.

***** Butchered Memory *****

As darkness descended, the pain in Tani'm's heart faded. The word 'Brother' hung in her vision, the thin lettering glistening with crimson wetness she knew was not there.

She could hear the rustling of leaves as a cool humid breeze washed across her body. There was something familiar with the soft grass that supported her, the sounds of a car moving down the road behind her an unexpected comfort. It took a moment for her to realize where she was, and as she opened her eyes she felt a confliction of excitement and dread.

The forest stood before her, moss clinging to the ground on every open surface between the trees and bushes. She savored the scent that hung in the air, feeling a strange sense of home as she surveyed her surroundings. Tani'm watched as Grandfather came out from between the trees, the large old buck still showing signs of virility as he approached.

Looking back, Tani'm's heart sank as she saw the house she had last lived in with her parents. It was not much, a single story building with two bedrooms, one full bath and a passable kitchen. If she was not so comfortable with the wilderness, she may have been bothered by the dirt and garbage that was strewn around the living room, and piled into the corners of most rooms.

She remembered how she had chosen to sleep outside most nights, and as she stood and welcomed Grandfather, wrapping her arms around his neck, she knew that what she was remembering took place a few months before she had left her parents, though for some reason she had no recollection of the events she was experiencing.

"Good morning, old boy. How're you?"

Her voice was only slightly higher pitched than it would become over the next year, and as she felt herself pat the aged deer on the side of its neck, she could tell she was only a bit smaller than she would become. A steady and powerful heartbeat confirmed what her gift had already told her, the animal was content and trusted her completely.

With speed born of excitement, she turned and faced another edge of the forest, a much smaller and youthful buck watching her as it cautiously exited the treeline. Tani'm squinted her eyes and grinned as she lowered closer to the ground, resembling many of the predators the animals avoided. Despite her appearance, the immature elk also lowered towards the ground, its legs sprawling out into a wider stance while its short and stubby tail wiped from side to side.

Tani'm could feel the young buck's anticipation as it watched her with glee. She feigned a lunge, trying to trick the beast into thinking she was making her move, but while it barked in excitement, the animal barely moved. A moment later they were off, Tani'm chasing after the wild and youthful animal while it lept and maneuvered its way between trees and over the uneven terrain.

Their hearts raced in tune with their joy as they continued their chase, circling a small section of the forest where the rest of the herd was resting.

"I'm gonna get ya' Brother," Tani'm called out as she bounded over a nursing log, closing the distance to her young friend.

Tani'm's heart sank as she listened to herself call out the elk's name, not remembering the creature, but feeling how important it was to her. There was a sense of loss that swam up from the depths of her soul, searing her nerves with the pain of what was to come.

Her memory continued on, in spite of her desire for it to stop. While she could not remember what was about to happen, she knew enough to wish for it to end. No matter how hard she tried, she could not close her eyes, or stop her body from moving. Behind her adult mind, she could feel her younger self driving itself forward, joy and happiness filling every moment, completely unaware of what was about to happen.

There was a tragedy in that, Tani'm's adult self feeling the happiness of that moment and wanting to protect the small girl she was forced to experience it through. At the same time, she braced herself in anticipation of something terrible, expecting a wall of grief and pain to consume her much like it had earlier that day. But, as the memory moved forward her defenses never rose, and hidden within her younger self she was forced to watch, unable to do anything but feel the young woman's unfiltered joy.

As she felt her body lunge into the side of Brother, tackling the powerful animal to the ground while she feigned a killing blow on the elk's neck, she could feel the beginnings of the walls that now protected her. Hidden behind all of that joy was a shy detachment that had rooted itself into her, countless moments of manipulation and abuse by her parents shaping her into the withdrawn woman that found comfort in the innocence of nature.

While Tani'm laid on the beast's side, its chest rising and falling with deep breaths and bleating laughter, she basked in the simplicity of that life. Things were not perfect in the wild, death and fear were a constant and driving force. But, it was natural and predictable, never seeming out of place or disconcerting to Tani'm, who embraced those realities with a certainty her adult mind knew came from her gift.

The deer rose to its feet, leaving the young woman giggling on the ground while she tried to catch her breath. Brother looked down as it seemed to dance from hoof to hoof, eager for Tani'm to rise and join it. Tani'm's younger mind thought nothing of the silence that had descended through the forest around them, but her adult self knew exactly what it meant.

A fraction of a second later, a warm red spray splashed across Tani'm's face. Brother's giddy bleats replaced by startled and frightened grunts as it turned and tried to run towards the herd, its legs giving out one by one as it collapsed beside her.

Its large dark eyes were filled with terror and pain that screamed out to Tani'm through her gift, blood rushing into Brother's lungs as its gasping breaths became more and more labored. Tani'm felt her world turn upside down as she watched the terror grow in her friend's innocent and youthful face. Its pain was too much to bear, but in her young mind Tani'm could feel her compassion and love for the creature grow, forcing her to reach out and caress the side of the elk's face.

In that simple touch, the beast's suffering became all the more real, bleeding through the contact and filling the young woman with confusion and dread. Through the blood and tears that clouded her eyes, Tani'm forced herself to look into Brother's shifting gaze as she pushed herself into the dying animals mind, not wanting it to have to suffer as much as it was. With concerted effort she was able to shield it from all of its pain, leaving behind the numbness of shock and the sense of love that she held for it.

Tani'm could feel its breathing slow as it relaxed and looked back at her, unaware of the pain she was experiencing on its behalf. Every moment of anguish and suffering that it should have felt was intercepted by Tani'm as she tried her best to remain strong, making sure that Brother saw only adoration as she tried to remember the games they had played together.

They had shared a year of joy and freedom within the forest. Grandfather watching over them as they ran and danced through the trees near the herd. Those memories helped her to withstand the animals suffering, but also served to punctuate how tragic its death was, reminding her of all the experiences they would not get to share moving forward.

She tried to speak, wanting to confess how much she loved Brother, but her throat refused to work as the tears came unbidden to her eyes. Death was coming slow, and its pain only grew with every passing moment, her gift starting to prove incapable of shielding the animal from all of the suffering.

So, not wanting her Brother to die in terror and misery, Tani'm did what she knew had to be done. Without thought she shaped a nearby root into a sharp and deadly weapon, the makeshift dagger rising to the surface of the ground as she reached down and grabbed it. Her muscles flexed for a brief moment as she pulled it loose, and mustering the last of her strength she drove its point up under the deer's neck, and into its brain.

It was a sickening feeling, knowing that she was taking the life of her best friend. The worst part, was that she could feel the blade as it cut into Brother's neck, the added fear that sensation caused just before its body went limp and the last few moments of its life, all felt by Tani'm as she twisted the knife and experienced its demise. The elk she had loved was gone forever.

Rage came to life as she turned towards the forest, standing with blood coating the front of her body. Tani'm's knuckles turned white as she held the knife out to her side, blood dripping from its tip as she scanned the trees. She expected an incompetent hunter to exit the forest, knowing that anyone with any experience would have had little difficulty piercing Brother's heart as it stood in the open above her.

The knife dropped from her hand as she saw her father come out from behind a tree out in the distance. He looked shocked and surprised to see Tani'm standing there, and the older woman watched her father closely, sensing the trust and confusion from her younger self as she studied her father with her older mind.

There was something strange about the way he looked, his surprise seeming too perfect as he dropped his rifle and ran towards her.

"Ohh, God. Princess, what are you doing here?"

Tani'm's emotions flooded into her younger body as her mind erupted with the pain she had just endured, her anger finding no place to escape and turning to confusion as her father pulled her into his arms. Pulling back, her face a mess with blood and tears, she asked, "Why?"

Looking down at the young elk, her father stated, "I... I was just trying to feed us. Trying to keep us alive. I had no idea you were out here."

While her younger mind trusted her father's words, taking comfort from his embrace, Tani'm's older consciousness could see the duplicitousness that was hidden in his expression. While his eyes pleaded forgiveness, the rest of his face betrayed a knowledge of what he had done. Those little things told a story, and while her younger self was not ready to see them, Tani'm could tell that she had noticed.

The seeds of doubt were planted, and her father's next words put fertilizer to those ideas.

"I'm sorry you had to see this, chipmunk, but it might be a good thing. I have no idea how to clean the carcass."

The implied question caused Tani'm's older mind to grow furious, recognizing all the lies that simple statement exposed. Unfortunately, her younger self was unaware, only looking at Brother and mourning her loss while trying to comprehend what he was asking. It took a few moments for her to realize that while she saw a treasured friend, her father saw meat and food.

It was not a difficult thing for her to understand, but for the first time Tani'm struggled to accept that Brother's death could be given meaning by the nourishment it would provide. She knew it was true, but the more she studied the body, the more she thought back on the life they had shared. She had hunted before, and killed. Tani'm knew exactly how to strip Brother's body, and knew that it could feed them for a long time, but could not bring herself to do it.

Without a word, she ran off into the forest, her father's request hanging in her mind as she ran.

Tani'm's older self dissected his words while her younger body ran. The exercise was cathartic, helping her nerves to settle while both of her consciousnesses fought to process everything that had happened.

Tani'm had never known her father to hunt, so why had he been out that day? Further, what were the odds that he would happen to kill a deer that had been so close to Tani'm on his first excursion? Those questions informed all of Tani'm's assertions that her father had not been there by mistake. He had followed her, knowing that the animals were put at ease by her presence. More troubling, was the knowledge that he had taken the shot knowing that she was right there.

While her young body dashed between the trees, her adult thoughts raged against the knowledge that her father had cared more for killing the animal than protecting her. That for some reason he had needed the meat enough to risk his daughter's life.

In that moment, Tani'm returned to the scene of Brother's murder, her young mind unaware of just how tragic a scene it was. Her father was butchering the young elk's body in the worst possible way, ruining the pelt and piercing internal organs that would taint the meat if left much longer.

Her hand trembled and she fought not to cry as she wrestled the knife from her father's grip.

"Leave me," she commanded, her gift tapping into the forest to give her strength.

Her father's eyes went wide with shock at the power he could feel from his little girl, the nearly five foot tall woman seeming like a towering impossibility as he backed away.

"Return in half an hour, and everything should be ready."

Her words were cold and monotone, her pain and conflict hidden behind the force of her gift. Without turning her gaze, she went to work, breaking down Brother's body. The moment her father was gone the tears began to flow once more, but despite her turmoil the knife never stopped moving.

Tani'm's adult self could feel the return of her pain, the deep and senseless loss filling in a piece of that hole that had been dug out of her soul. She was proud of her younger self, the strength she possessed as she turned that creature she had loved into nothing more than piles of meat and discarded organs.

She had salvaged what she could from its pelt, keeping that for herself, knowing what she wanted to do with it. When her father arrived her strength once more returned.

"It's yours."

Her adult mind lifted from her body, watching as the powerful and small young woman ran deeper into the forest, pelt held across her shoulders as she vanished into the brush. Darkness again consumed her, before her eyes blinked awake. Her house was cold, the open windows allowing in the cool night air.

The bobcat was there resting against her once more, the old tomcat sapping her warmth while she slumbered. Her memories had returned, that painful experience with Brother creating the deep chasm that her father and mother filled with betrayal and manipulation.

After that night, they never ate elk, her parents vanishing for a few days before returning with a new supply of drugs. While she kept herself alive with the bounty of the forest, her parents whiled away their days in a drug induced haze. Once their supply got low, she remembered their manipulations starting anew.

The last memory that returned, was of her father washing blood from his hands after having guilted her into a sacrificing another woodland creature to their disease. Her mother's voice repeating, "But we'll starve if you don't let us," repeating in the background.

Her mother's eyes were vacant, the older woman rocking back and forth as she scratched at her arms. Withdrawals were a terrible thing, but if Tani'm had her choice now, she would have locked them in that house and never let them leave.

Picking up her phone and dialing the number that Eddie had given her, Tani'm looked at the card on the table, a tear leaking from the corner of her eye as she read the single blood red word that was written on its back. A moment later, a lady answered.

"Kathy, it's Tani'm... I think I'm ready."

***** Madness Defined *****

Victor appeared through a shadow at the corner of the large and sterile room. He was drenched in a cold sweat as the Dire Wolf's body slipped out from the inky blackness behind him, landing with a loud thud that punctuated the frustrated look on his pale face.

"With a world of options, you setup your lab in this irradiated hell hole?"

There was a large stone slab that his master had prepared for the task before them. Metal tools laid out on various carts and tables scattered about the large room. Massive containers, each filled with liquid that had organs and tissues suspended within them. Most were constructed of steel, stray fifty gallons drums that had been given a new purpose. But a few were made of glass, presenting strange and unfamiliar organs to Victor, who knew their supernatural origins but couldn't guess at their purpose.

A large man had been waiting patiently in the corner of the room, thick and powerful arms draped over his slender knees while he looked at his emaciated servant with a piercing gaze. There was a green light that intensified in his eyes as he squinted and scowled at the wolf that rested on the ground.

"What have you done?"

With shocking speed, the towering being rose to his feet, scarred and damaged flesh stretched over sinuous muscle that concealed a terrible might. Victor cowered before his master, the expansive scars on his chest burning as he sensed Acheron's anger.

"After what you did to Victoria's child, I thought you'd have learned your lesson, Victor."

It only took a few steps for the towering man to cross the room and kneel down, lifting the wolf as if it were a doll, his powerful arms holding the animal far off the ground with ease. Acheron's body had changed since the last time Victor had seen him, greenish and gold thread woven through flesh at the joints of his body, showing where modifications had been made.

There was brilliance in his eyes as he studied the supernatural creature that danced along the precipice of death.

Victor knew that Acheron could feel the torment that the wolf was in, the magical slumber he had put the creature into doing nothing to shield it from the suffering of its body. He wondered what punishment might be inflicted upon him, and watched with anticipation as he felt his master consider his course of action.