Shine light into darkness 3: The Haves and the Have nots

[ronfiction]

Lou's rental car came to park outside the Florida Women's Reception Center at the Marion County Correctional Facility in Ocala Florida. The woman's prison was not where he thought he would be spending New years eve, but here he was. The drive from Daytona beach was a pleasant one that Lou did alone, which allowed him time to clear his head and ready himself for the conversation he was not looking forward to.

Lou had learned Adam's tragic childhood story one late night in the AAA diner, and the two had talked about what he would have Lou do if he died. Adam's mother was a Florida member of the Seminole Tribe, being a part of the minority who refused to be moved to Oklahoma by the Feds. Adam's father had had a fling with her and tried to do right by raising Adam despite hating Adam's mother. Adam's mother however kidnapped Adam and took him to her swamp based drug den where she tried to impart on him her tribe's knowledge of skin walking.

Adam's father was able to organize his influence to organize a nation wide hunt for his missing son and they manage to find Adam right as his mother was trying to drown Adam as part of a ritual. Adam's father was able to peruse the harshest of jail terms for Adam's mother and Adam, traumatized by the event was raised in general seclusion for the rest of his childhood, never seeing his mother again.

His mother was put into prison and generally regarded as a methed out crazy person. Her talk about 'magic and skin walking' sounded nuts to most people. By the time Adam's powers manifested in his early adulthood, His mother was completely consumed by her craziness. Adam in time came to realize what it was that his mother was trying to do, but never fully forgave her for drug use and time as a prostitute. He had been meaning to go and speak with her, but the end of the world got in his way and eventually did him in.

Lou swore an oath to Adam, telling him that he would see this through. His mother needed to know that she was, in fact, not crazy but actually may have played a big part in saving the world. Lou walked into the prison and spoke to the guard at the front.

"I'm here to see a Heather-Lynn Sawnee. I made a call yesterday about her." Lou said and shifted awkwardly in front of the service counter. The guard picked up a phone and made a phone call. Lou was made to wait a while in the lobby but eventually was brought to a small booth where a thick piece of glass separated him from a thin, dark skinned woman with stringy hair and baggy eyes. The woman looked like a wreck, but Lou got a sense of being examined by her. He gave her a nervous smile and then picked up the phone on his side of the booth.

There was a pause and then he motioned for her to pick up the phone on her side of the booth. She reluctantly picked up the phone and in a raspy voice asked him what he wanted.

"I'm Lou Benoit, I'm from New Hampshire. I've come to talk to you for a little bit." He said in an awkward voice. Heather wrinkled her nose and shrugged.

"I don't know anyone from New Hampshire. You sure you got the right Heather?" She asked in annoyance. Lou swallowed hard and sighed.

"I'm a friend of your son Adam. He wanted me to come to talk to you. I... I'm sorry to say, but he's dead." Lou said. He cringed at how he blurted it out like that, but Heather seemed to perk up at the mention of her son and his death.

"Adam's gone? But the worlds still turning... He must have done it then. He must have filled his purpose." She said simply in a sad voice. Lou raised an eyebrow at her statement. "His purpose?" He asked.

Heather smirked some and looked up at the ceiling. "Yes, he was destined to go confront the darkness." She said matter of factly and seemingly went from a drug induced daze to a level of awake Lou had not seen at first. Lou cast a nervous look around, seeing if anyone was watching the two of them talk. Heather looked back to Lou and raised an eyebrow at Lou and then her eyes went wide.

"You saw the darkness! I can see it in your eyes!" She said, her voice raising in panic. Lou quickly tried to calm her down, not wanting to draw attention from the guards.

"Yes, yes I did. calm down, calm down." He said, trying to chill her out. Heather placed a hand on the glass and shook her head some, occasionally banging the phone against the side of her head.

"The howling... oh the howling." She said. Lou again tried to calm her down. Heather let out a laugh and pressed her face against the glass

"Tell me what you saw at the end of the world Lou. Tell me what you saw!" She shouted. A near by guard started to eye their booth and Lou gave her a concerned look.

"Alright, just calm down or they're going to take you away." Lou whispered over the phone. This time Heather relaxed and sat down in her chair again, not waiting for Lou to speak.

"It was up in New Hampshire. We found the gate were it came from. It was blocked, but leaking in a little by little. The gate wasn't going to hold any longer, so we went through and fought it there." Lou started. Heather sat mouth open in awe. "Did you go in?" She asked.

Lou nodded slowly. "What was it's world like?" Heather asked. Lou sighed deeply and rubbed his eyes. "It was like nothing I had ever seen. The stars... the stars were all wrong. The air was stale, like... us walking through it was the first time it had ever moved. It was cold... Very cold. We saw it's true form. We heard it..."

"Howl." Heather said in a hushed tone, now with a vacant look on her face. Lou looked up from his feet and saw Heather's gaze drifting off into space. "You saw it too." Lou said and gripped his phone tightly. Heather gave Lou a slow, sad nod.

"Many years ago. Saw my son's future. Saw that he was to fight the darkness. Saw that either he would die or the world would die. No one believed me. But I knew what had to be done." Heather said.

There was a long pause on both sides and Lou was for a long time, at a loss for words. The two sat as strangers that knew a dark truth years and miles apart but in the same room for the first time.

"We won, it's over now. You were right." Lou said, but he didn't know if he said it to her or himself. Heather sadly nodded and a single tear rolled down her cheek. "I have a lot of powerful friends. I could get you out of here." Lou said and rested his forehead against the glass. The tired woman on the other side brought her head to the glass too and whispered into the phone.

"No, I knew what I was doing. I did to him what no mother should ever have to do to a child. This is my atonement. This is the part I play in all this." She said. Lou stayed forehead to forehead with Heather for a time and then leaned back in his chair. Heather had dropped the phone and was now crying silently on the other side of the glass.

Lou heaved a sigh and tried to keep himself together. By now a guard had come to take Heather away and she went without a fight. An other guard came to Lou on his side of the glass and seemed to be ready to take him out of the booth.

Lou made his way back out to the parking lot and he sat on the hood of his car. A dark cloud that had been over head was now giving out thunder and in true Florida fashion would soon be rain. Lou hung his head for a long time and he tried to shake a cold that had managed to grip him despite the topical weather surrounding him.

Any time Lou thought about the howling darkness, it stuck with him longer than he could explain. That world he had gone to through the gate was not a place he should have gone. It was not a place for him, or anyone really. Lou took some deep breaths and shook his head some. It would never leave him, that cold, dark place. His fleeting sense of victory came only from the notion that others wouldn't have to see what he saw ever again. Or at least he hoped so.

Like someone turning on a shower, the down pour hit Lou like a wave. Lou was drenched in moments and he had lost track of time. While dreaming of a far away place, he found himself in a far away place and remembered he had people to get back to... People he had to get back to.... People he had to get back to.