The Reluctant Savior. Krystan
soon choose to invade Iraq in hopes of locating and destroying such weapons. “God Bless America” had a very hollow ring to it these days, as the country she had now grown to love seemed intent on invading the land of her birth. Mariah knew in her heart that more bloodshed was not the answer, but she felt utterly helpless as an upcoming war seemed to loom on the horizon. Her Muslim faith had always been a source of comfort and stability to her, as it had been for her mother, and its hijacking by religious extremists intent on jihad was just as wrong in her mind as the American retaliation in the name of their god. She worried a lot about the present anti-Muslim hysteria that seemed to be sweeping the country and felt insecure being labeled some sort of subversive extremist simply because she was a Muslim when, in reality, she was the complete opposite.
Tonight, as she lay on the couch, reading and watching the fire dancing in the fireplace beyond, these thoughts returned to her mind, causing her to feel an oppressive heaviness in her soul. Her optimism, stemming from the newly discovered sea of energy uniting all of life, was now being overshadowed by a painful divisiveness that seemed to cloud these new scientific discoveries. Religious extremism, no matter what form, was really no different from the arrogant and godless mechanistic world of science that was now in the early stages of being uprooted for good. She only wished that the same would occur in the present sectarian religious community, which she hoped would likewise crumble and give way to a new, inclusive faith in the oneness of all life and the God essence in all of creation. Heavy thoughts for a young girl, she realized, sitting up and dog-earing the page where she had left Dr. Sheldrake’s musings concerning the ‘nonlocal morphic field.’ That will have to do for tonight, she mused to herself, getting up from the couch and going over to turn off the gas logs in the fireplace. She knew it wasn’t that cold, but there was just something about the dancing flames confined within the brick perimeter of the hearth yet free to release their inherent energy that brought some peace and resolution to her intellectual struggles.
*****
Buzz, Blood, and Big Bear were out of the car now and stealthily approaching their target. Fortunately for them, the house was quite private, set back in the woods about 150 feet from the curb, with the only streetlight being several houses down on the opposite side, offering no illumination at all to the Quitan home. Buzz was still quite nervous. He had been ok with some of their petty escapades in the past, but this was major league, go-to-prison-type stuff. Perhaps he was the only one of the three with even a shred of conscience remaining, as both Blood and Big Bear seemed fairly oblivious to any feelings of fear or guilt.
There was a long curving driveway leading to the front entry garage on the left of the home, and the three were now passing by the side of the garage, making their way through the trees toward the rear of the house. It was a two-story home, but there appeared to be some sort of vaulted den at the back, with a large brick chimney. There was a flagstone walkway around the den leading to a huge stone terrace, beyond which the ground quickly dropped off to a creek below. Landscape lighting around the periphery of the terrace and in the trees illuminated wooden steps down to the creek. Two sets of French doors, one on either side of the large brick hearth now visible through the windows, opened out to the terrace. From their position in the woods to the left of the den, the three men had a good view through the windows into the large vaulted room.
A young girl was just getting up from the couch in front of the fireplace and walking toward it, as if to turn off what appeared to be gas logs, which had been providing a glowing ambience to the softly lit room. A rather-bright reading lamp was still on near the couch, where she perhaps had been reading. Buzz looked over to his two companions and whispered, “That must be the daughter. Pretty cute. Wonder how she’d look without those pajamas!” A somewhat-sadistic smile had begun to spread across his face as that thought began to supplant his earlier anxieties. “This could be better than I thought,” he added with a slightly forced chuckle. “How do you guys think we should get in?”
Before anyone could answer, however, Mariah headed to the left set of French doors, opened one side, and walked out onto the terrace. It was supposed to have been a full moon that night, but unfortunately the overcast skies left only a faint white glow where she had guessed it would be. The lights in the trees beyond the terrace illuminated the gurgling creek below, and she always enjoyed watching it flow by, then cascade down a three-or-so-foot drop as it meandered its way on through the forest. The stones in the creek bed at the bottom of the small waterfall rumbled as the water rolled over them, a sound that Mariah found quite relaxing. Her bare feet had now dissipated their warmth to the flagstone beneath them, causing her a slight shiver. 55 degrees was not exactly warm, and with no housecoat, she decided to head back inside and snuggle up in her warm bed for the night.
Not believing their good fortune, the Three Bs watched, crouching in the shadows from their vantage point in the trees just to the left of the illuminated terrace. Buzz signaled that he would take the girl and motioned for the other two to follow through the open door.
Just as Mariah’s hand reached for the doorknob, she heard a crackling sound in the woods just to her right. As she turned to squint into the darkness, there was a blurring quick movement, and before she could react, a gloved hand grabbed her left elbow from behind, while another tightly covered her mouth. She sensed a strong man tightening his grip on her and felt herself being shoved through the door into the den beyond. There were other dark figures accompanying him, which she now began to see more clearly as she began to struggle against the grasp of her initial captor. She tried to scream but couldn’t, nor could she free herself from the viselike arms that had engulfed her. This was it—her worst nightmare—but it was no dream. Absolute terror filled her thoughts just before her body became limp and she lost consciousness.
“Jesus, Buzz!” shrieked Big Bear, “you didn’ go an’ kill her already now, did ya?”
“Hell no,” Buzz retorted. “She just fainted. Maybe my glove was too tight over her mouth ’n nose. She’ll come around. One o’ you guys find the kitchen and get me some vinegar. A sniff o’ that should bring her back in no time. Hurry up, will ya? We ain’t got all night here!”
Soon Blood returned with a bottle of apple cider vinegar in hand. “Here ya go, Buzzard—hope it works!”
“Don’t worry, it will,” Buzz smiled as he twisted open the cap and placed the open bottle under Mariah’s nose. In just a couple of seconds she winced, groaned, and slowly began to open her eyes. “Hey sweetie, welcome back to hell!” Buzz laughed as he removed the open bottle from under her nose. He could see that the young girl was still struggling to comprehend what was actually happening to her. She tried to focus her eyes, and then, almost as if she really didn’t want to see, she closed them again. “Come on now, darlin’,” Buzz exhorted, “we got work to do here.”
Mariah was fixed in a state somewhere between outright terror and complete disbelief. Who were these big, burly tattooed strangers in her home? Where did they come from? What did they want with her? Many questions but no answers at the moment. She glanced around nervously, wondering what would happen next. She sensed malevolent intent but was uncertain as to whether they intended to rape her, maim her, or just plain kill her. She was too terrified to focus, and so just continued to lie there helplessly, shifting her eyes slowly from one of her captors to the next.
Buzz continued, “You see, we’re gonna make a little internet movie here for all your men friends over there in Iraq. Show ’em what their women are really like underneath all that crap they make you wear. Show ’em what’s gonna happen to more of their women if you all don’t get the hell outa our country. You follow me, sweetie?”
Mariah’s eyes filled with tears. She tried to hold them back but just couldn’t any longer. A mix of terror and shame flooded her entire being as she listened to Buzz’s threats. How could anyone sink to such a level of vile vindictiveness? She hadn’t ever been anything but kind and courteous to anyone she had met in this country. She didn’t deserve to be humiliated like this. And what about her father? He would never get over such shame brought to his family.
“Hey, you in there, little bitch?” Buzz queried. “We’re about to have a party you won’t soon forget, you little sand slut! What I need from you right now is one o’ them silly ‘jibjab’ things