Zoe Bleak

1.

The standard show set for a Zoe Bleak performance was usually something with fire, the disappearing audience member and then a levitation act. Intermixed was simple stuff like card tricks, humor and flirtatious come-ons from Zoe. The only thing Zoe didn’t purposely mess up with the levitation act which always received a standing ovation. The other tricks were constantly screwed up by dropping cards, fires not lighting and other things that could easily be fixed. The crux of all of her shows was the levitation. Levitation and her skimpy clothes.

Tonight was a night like any other. Zoe made it seem like she was a novice magician until the levitation trick all while making sure the men could count the freckles on her cleavage. Zoe wasn’t a novice but a third generation magician. Her grandfather was a superhero, Magic Man. For a period during World War II, Silas Bleak fought his own war on the homefront. He retired shortly after the war when he and her grandmother, Winnette, got married. Her father, Robert Bleak, was a highly respected doctor. After her father was murdered, her grandfather raised her until he disappeared when Zoe was 18. She always felt guilty about not using her magic for good like her male role models but she had resigned herself to knowing that she was nothing like them.

After the show, Zoe waited until everyone had left and the lights to the club were turned off before she left. Zoe threw on her trench coat and began walking west for about five blocks until she reached Cottage Grove Avenue then headed north. The streets and sidewalks were deserted which she expected since it was almost two-thirty in the morning. Vanessa would most likely be in bed. She lost herself in the thought of Vanessa and didn’t see the two pairs of arms reached out from an alleyway and grabbing her, one hand covering her mouth so she couldn’t scream—not that anyone would hear her to help her anyway.

She was dragged into one of the abandoned, burned-out houses she had been walking by and thrown on the floor. “She’s even dressed like a whore,” one of them cackled “so we don’t even need to tear her clothes off.”

Zoe smirked as she eyed her two abductors. “What are you doing?”

“We’re just going to have a little fun,” the other said and got down close to Zoe. He grabbed her face with his hand and held her close to him. He pushed her down on the floor. Zoe didn’t struggle as the man began unbuckling his pants. She looked straight into his eyes and it took a couple seconds for him to notice. He tried to avert his eyes from hers but couldn’t. “What?”

“Broken nose,” Zoe said and a soft crack came from the man’s face. He yelled in pain and rolled off of Zoe.

“What the hell?” the other said and began reaching for a gun that was shoved in his pants.

Zoe met the man’s eyes and spoke, “Stop,” and the man froze where he was. Zoe stood up and looked at her would-be rapists. “This could’ve been much worse,” she said. “Neither of you better attempt this ever again. I can make you disappear and trust me, you wouldn’t like it.”

“You crazy bitch,” the man with the broken nose sobbed, blood pouring out.

“You should get your friend to the hospital so a doctor can get that nose reset,” Zoe said, walking out of the building.

The Vagabond Bookstore was located halfway between 65th and Marquette Road along Cottage Grove. It was a decent looking two-story brick building with iron bars across the big front window and entryway. On the right side of the bookstore was a fenced in vacant lot and to the left, connected to the brick building, was a pink stone building that served as a church. It wasn’t a conventional church but a church that did its sermons through song. The sign on the building said that they were a family band and occasionally Zoe and Vanessa heard their rehearsals and sermons through the walls but they admitted that they were lucky to have them as neighbors.

Zoe unlocked the iron gates to the front door, entered the bookstore, making sure to lock up the gates and door again, and went up the back stairs to the second floor where she and Vanessa lived. The stairs led into a living room which only had a couch, recliner a couple of coffee tables, side tables and an old Emerson TV from the 1980s on another table. Zoe walked down the hallway to the bedroom and walked in. Vanessa was sitting in bed, reading, with the lamp on her nightstand turned on.

“You didn’t have to wait up,” Zoe said and began taking off her stage clothes.

“I didn’t. I was just reading,” Vanessa said, slid a bookmark into her book and placed it on the nightstand. “How was the show?”

“The usual,” Zoe tossed her outfit onto the back of a chair and turned around to take off her bra. The bra wound up with the rest of the outfit and Zoe grabbed a white tank top and turned back to Vanessa. “I walked home which is why I’m later than usual.”

“Do you have a show tomorrow night?” Vanessa asked as Zoe got into bed with her.

“No. Why?”

“I was thinking we could go have dinner somewhere,” Vanessa smiled. “It’s been awhile since we’ve had a nice evening together.”

“I think we can do that,” Zoe leaned over and kissed Vanessa. “How about in the morning we go out and get coffee?”

“We’d have to open the store later.”

“It will be fine. The huge line of people we always have standing outside our business will understand,” Zoe rolled her eyes.

Vanessa giggled. “Okay,” they kissed again, more passionately this time and longer. Zoe held the back of Vanessa’s head and exhaled longingly. “Love you,” Vanessa rolled over and turned off the lamp.

“Love you, too,” Zoe wrapped her arm around Vanessa and hugged her.

Zoe never fell asleep before Vanessa. Zoe would lie awake typically for almost two hours. It was something she had dealt with since she was a kid and she never asked about it or attempted to use her magic to help her. She was unsure if it was because of her powers or if it was just her mind not shutting down but she had grown used to it and she finally fell asleep after only forty-five minutes.




Zoe was seventeen and sitting around a large fire near an old, abandoned church in the woods several miles west of the Chicago metropolitan area. During her sophomore year of high school, Zoe had gotten close to a group of teens who considered themselves part of a cult. Their nights consisted of driving out to the abandoned church and sitting around a campfire, getting high. Tonight was originally planned to be no different.

Zoe sat close to Joshua, her boyfriend, with her head on his shoulder and hand resting high up on his leg. “When are Angie and Donna getting here?” Zoe asked.

“They’re getting something for us tonight. It’s a surprise,” Joshua smirked. He guzzled some beer out of a bottle and leaned over to kiss Zoe. When they pulled apart, she giggled and wiped her mouth. “They do seem to be running late. I’m going to walk out to the main road and see if they’re here.”

Joshua got up and walked away from the fire leaving Zoe and two others alone. “What’s the surprise?” she asked.

The other two shrugged. “We don’t know. Joshua planned all this out.”

“They were coming,” Joshua said from the path and emerged with Angie and Donna who also had a noticeably very pregnant woman with them. They were holding her wrists tight as she was struggling to pull herself away. “Zoe, Nathan, Sammy, this lovely lady is Candice. Candice is a single mother who is thirty weeks pregnant.”

Zoe saw the nervous looks on Nathan and Sammy’s faces. “Why did you bring her here? Why is she struggling and crying?”

“After months of searching and planning, we are going to have our first sacrifice,” Joshua said. “We’ve all been waiting for it. We talk about it every week and now it’s finally time to do the deed.”

“But she’s pregnant,” Zoe walked over Joshua and Angie and Donna, still holding onto Candice. “I’m not going to murder a pregnant woman. I’m not going to murder anyone. All that we do is just talk and I’m sure no one else here feels comfortable killing an innocent person.”

Joshua hung his head. His greasy hair hung down over his eyes. “Actually, Zoe, I think everyone here is perfectly fine with killing an innocent person.”

Zoe turned and saw Nathan and Sammy approaching them with knives in their hands. They didn’t look the same anymore and when Zoe turned back to Joshua, he, Angie and Donna looked different as well.

“Bring her into the church,” Joshua said. Candice was starting to really struggle as Donna and Angie dragged her toward the dilapidated building. Joshua stopped and kicked Candice in the knee with the flat of his shoe. The knee cracked and buckled and Candice let out a piercing scream. “Maybe that will make her easier to drag. It’ll keep her from escaping at least.”

Zoe sheepishly followed Joshua and the others into the abandoned church. They threw Candice down on the dusty and feces-crusted wood floor and held her down. Joshua began saying some sort of prayer as Zoe just watched and started to cry.

“Why didn’t you help her?” a voice asked her.

“I didn’t know how. I didn’t want them to come after me and do the same thing to me,” Zoe sniffled and paused for a second. “I also wanted to belong, Grandpa,” Zoe turned to the voice and saw a white-haired bearded man standing next to her.

Back in the ‘40s and early ‘50s, Silas Bleak used his powers as Magic Man, a superhero who perked up spirits and served as inspiration to Chicago from 1942 until his retirement in 1954 when Silas’ wife got pregnant. Silas continued to use his powers to help people but never to the scale he did as Magic Man. After her mother ran off and her father was murdered, Silas took care of Zoe from age nine until he ran off too when she was 17. Just a few days after this incident.

“It’s been a long time, Zoe,” Silas said. “I’m sorry that I have to make you relive this but it will be over soon.”

“It’s a dream?” she asked quietly. “So you are dead.”

“Now, yes. When I left you I wasn’t but I was called into duty.”

“Duty? What duty? Why did you leave me? Do you know how hard it is for a 17-year-old girl like me to be abandoned by her mother, father and grandfather?”

“I’ve watched you so yes, I do,” Silas said. “I had to leave because of this,” he nodded to Joshua and the others. Joshua sat directly on Candice’s pregnant stomach as he carved an upside cross into her throat and chest. Candice began gasping for air as blood pooled on the floor around her. Her life noticeably drained from her and her body was soon limp.

“Done. Burn the church down,” Joshua said standing up.

As Joshua and the others left the church, a tall, ghostly woman with long brown hair appeared. She kneeled down next to Candice, placing her hands on her stomach.

“What’s she doing?” Zoe asked.

“Saving the baby,” Silas smiled.

“The baby lived?”

“Oh, yes. She is a very happy and rambunctious 14-year-old girl named Winnette. Winnie for short.”

“Winnette? Grandma’s name. Have…Have you been taking care of her?”

“Yes, with the help of Rhona,” Silas pointed to the ghostly lady. “But she needs to be around people now. That’s where you come in.”

“Me?”

“Winnie will be a freshman in high school and she needs to have more tangible parents and be around people her own age and in her plane of existence.”

“And you think Vanessa and me are those parents?”

“If you don’t think you can handle it, fine. We just thought it would be a good way to make up for this,” Silas said.

“What am I supposed to tell Vanessa?” Zoe asked but got no response. “Grandpa?” she asked but she was awake and back in her bedroom with Vanessa. She rolled over, hugging Vanessa and softly kissed her freckled shoulder.

2.

The next morning, Zoe and Vanessa walked hand-in-hand to a coffeeshop at 63rd and Woodlawn. When they got their coffee, they went outside and sat on the patio. “Where do we want to get dinner tonight?” Vanessa asked then took a sip of her coffee.

“I don’t know. Do we want to drive to the city or stay around here?” Zoe asked.

“I could do either. It’s been awhile since we’ve actually went that far north,” Vanessa took another sip. “Did you sleep okay last night?”

“Yeah, why?”

“You muttered in your sleep and tossed and turned a lot. Usually you sleep like you are dead.”

“I had a weird dream,” Zoe said. “We’ve been dating for three years, right?”

“Yeah,” Vanessa agreed hesitantly.

“How do you feel about having children?”

“I’ve thought about it but not in depth. We’d have to decide who would carry the baby. We’re both still young enough that either of us could do it.”

“How do you feel about adoption?”

“Adopting a baby or a toddler? We could try but I don’t know if we’d be good candidates.”

“What about adopting a teenager?”

“A teenager? Do you have one in mind? You seem to have a specific kid in mind.”

“It’s because of my dream last night. I can’t really explain it here but when we get home, I’ll tell you everything,” Zoe’s eyes teared up.

“That dream must have really shook you up,” Vanessa took Zoe’s hand.

“My Grandpa was in it,” Zoe sniffled.

“Your Grandpa? The one that disappeared when you were 18?”

Zoe nodded.

“We can head back to the shop if you want,” Vanessa said.

“No. I’m sorry, it’s just been awhile since I’ve seen him. Seeing him again was so comforting that I wish I had those last years he was around to be with him again.”

“So he did pass away?”

“I always thought that he left for no reason. You can’t imagine the trauma I suffered considering my mom died giving birth to me, my father being murdered and my grandfather just vanishing. I’m glad to know that there was a reason for him leaving.”

“What are you talking about?” Vanessa laughed but was growing concerned for her partner.

“I’ll tell you when we get home,” Zoe smiled.




When Zoe and Vanessa got back to the shop, there was a man sitting on their step. As Zoe recognized him, panic flooded her body and her grip on Vanessa’s hand tightened.

“Zoe Bleak,” the man stood up and extended his arms. “How long has it been?” he hugged her and she recoiled at his touch.

“Not long enough,” she groaned.

The man turned to Vanessa. “I’m Joshua. Zoe and I were boyfriend and girlfriend back in high school.”

“I heard,” Vanessa said. “Luckily it was just a phase and she suffered no permanent damage.”

“Heh. The mouth on her,” Joshua smiled.

“What are you doing here, Joshua?”

“To reminisce about old times and all the fun we used to have.”

Zoe unlocked the door to the shop hoping to get away from Joshua. “Fun? All we did was drink, get high and have sex.”

“There was that time we murdered that woman,” Joshua said. Zoe and Vanessa were in the shop and Joshua was following them in. “Well, I guess I murdered her while you just stood and watched but accessory to murder is just as bad.”

“Go away, Joshua!” Zoe shoved Joshua out of the store and onto the street. “And if I ever see you again, I will kill you,” Zoe slammed the door and locked it.

“You murdered somebody?” Vanessa asked, quietly.

“I wasn’t a very good teenager and I think the reason Joshua is back in my life is because of my dream,” Zoe said and sat down on one of the ratty couches they had in the shop.

“Okay. You need to tell me this dream,” Vanessa sat down with Zoe.

“I dreamt about that night—that murder. The only difference was that my Grandpa appeared and explained everything. It was a pregnant woman that Joshua and his friends killed. But the baby lived and has been living in limbo or something for the last fourteen years. She’ll be a freshman in high school this fall and they want us to take care of her.”

“Us? Why us?”

“Part of it is as punishment for allowing Candice to be killed. The other part is because of my powers. For some reason this child needs protection and only I can help,” Zoe said.

Vanessa was silent and just looked at her hands. “What else haven’t you told me? Are there any other secrets that could come up and disrupt our relatively quiet life?”

“Like I said, I wasn’t a very good teenager,” Zoe chuckled but it sounded more like a sob.

“Zoe. Tell me. There can’t be secrets this big between us,” Vanessa said.

“When I was fourteen, my Grandpa had to go out of town and he let me stay home alone. I invited a friend to stay over and I ended up getting her drunk and raping her.”

“What?” Vanessa’s mouth dropped open.

“I really liked her and I thought if I…It was stupid. We never spoke again and I lost a great friend,” Zoe said. “I wish I could take it back but I can’t.”

Vanessa was silent again. “Is that all?”

“My freshman year of college, I had decided to embrace my lesbianism and I fell for this girl who was definitely not a lesbian. I got around that little hiccup by putting her under a love and attraction spell,” Zoe revealed.

“How long did you have her under this spell?” Vanessa asked, a cold undertone in her voice.

“Ten months,” Zoe hung her head.

“Why did you release her from this spell?”

Zoe started messing with her fingers. “I stopped loving her.”

Vanessa nodded. “Have you ever put me under one of your spells? Am I under one now? Do you ever render me unconscious and rape me?”

“No! God, no. Rachel was the only person I’ve ever done that to. I’ve never used magic on you, Vanessa,” Vanessa pursed her lips and glared at Zoe. “I’m sorry, Ness. I should’ve told you about all of that but I wanted to put it all behind me. I’m not the same person I was at 14, 17 or 18.”

“You raped someone,” Vanessa said, disgusted. “Actually, you didn’t rape someone, you raped two people and murdered a third.”

“Ness…”

“No,” Vanessa interrupted and stood up. “I’m going upstairs. Please don’t follow me.”

Vanessa walked through the shop to the stairway. Zoe stayed on the couch and watched her leave. Zoe cried as Vanessa left and buried her face in the couch pillow when she heard the apartment door slam.

3.

Zoe opened the store about half an hour after Vanessa went upstairs. Only a few customers came in so Zoe spent the next couple of hours behind the counter reading. Even though she was turning pages and looking at the words, she wasn’t really reading. She used her magic to turn the pages and kept chastising herself for it.

When one o’clock came around, Zoe’s stomach gurgled but she didn’t know if she should go upstairs. She hadn’t even heard Vanessa walk around.

“Zoe?” She suddenly heard from the stairs.

Zoe quickly answered. “Yeah?”

“Can you come up here? We need to talk,” Vanessa said solemnly.

Zoe quickly walked upstairs and saw that Vanessa was in the bedroom. “Vanessa, I…” Zoe began talking but Vanessa stopped her.

“Wait. I’ve been thinking about what I learned about you but I’ve also been thinking about you and me and us. I was nervous about dating someone with powers because you can never be sure about how they will use them. Even without powers, you never think that someone could essentially drug and rape another person,” Vanessa sighed. The words cut into Zoe and she started to cry again. “The Zoe that I know never uses her powers maliciously. You could’ve continued misusing your powers, been a criminal, created an army of sex slaves but you didn’t. You settled down, started a business and became a mediocre nightclub magician. Why did you do that?”

Zoe hesitated. There were so many probable answers and Zoe didn’t know which one Vanessa wanted to hear. “I don’t…” Zoe began but Vanessa, again, interrupted.

“You’re a good person,” Vanessa took Zoe’s hands. “You’ve grown so much since you were a teenager and I fell in love with you because you are a good person. Despite your detours, you are just as good as your father and grandfather and you are also loving and caring and I am so happy that you are my girlfriend.”

The two of them kissed then got into bed together. They went back downstairs nearly thirty minutes later and saw a tall, Middle Eastern-looking woman and brown, curly-haired, freckled teenage girl browsing the store. Both Zoe and Vanessa blushed as they walked from the stairs to the counter.

“I must have left the front door unlocked,” Zoe whispered.

Vanessa smiled. “Do you need any help, ma’am?”

“No, thank you,” the woman smiled back. “We’re just looking.”

“Now that we’re back together, what about this adoption thing?” Zoe asked.

“I don’t know. I kind of want to do it but why after 14 years? Why not as a baby or a kindergartner?”

“Grandpa wasn’t clear on that. I don’t even know where we’d pick her up if we wanted her or even how to get ahold of Grandpa again,” Zoe sighed. “We don’t have to do this. He said it was no big deal.”

“Eh, people always say that it’s no big deal even though it is really a big deal,” Vanessa said and turned toward the teenager sitting on one of the couches. “Where’s the woman?”

Zoe looked around the store but only saw the girl. “I don’t know. She’s got to be here, why can’t we see her? She was eight feet tall,” Zoe exagerrated. Zoe walked over to the girl. She was reading one of the Harry Potter book, a beat-up old paperback edition. “Excuse me, little girl? Where’d your mother go?”

“She wasn’t my mom,” the girl answered. “She was Rhona and she told me that I live here now.”

Zoe looked back at Vanessa then back to the girl. “Winnette?”

“Winnie,” she smiled. Her face lit up with her closed-mouth smile, her eyebrows raised and the whites around her dark brown eyes disappeared as they partly closed.

“Winnie,” Zoe became nervous. “We weren’t expecting you so soon.”

Winnie put the book on the couch and stood up. “Rhona and Silas said that you were my parents or foster parents or adoptive parents,” she chuckled. “This is weird.”

Winnie was short, only coming up to just under Zoe’s breasts, her hair was brown but highlighted blonde, parted just off center of her scalp. She was wearing a green shirt, a dark blue bra strap was poking out from underneath. Freckles dotted Winnie’s forehead, nose and chest. Zoe thought she was the cutest and was relieved that Winnie seemed well-adjusted and that she didn’t resemble Candice at all.

“Uh, I guess foster parents for right now. I’m Zoe and behind the counter is Vanessa.”

Winnie giggled. “So cool that I have gay moms,” she said.

Zoe turned to Vanessa and mouthed ‘Mom’ to her. Vanessa nodded. “Let’s go upstairs and we can talk about what’s going on. Vanessa, can you lock the door?”




The three of them talked for a couple of hours in order to get to know each other. Zoe told Winnie that she was a magician and did a couple of tricks for her but Winnie was more embarrassed than anything. Zoe and Vanessa talked about their relationship and learned that Winnie was a huge Michael Jackson fan and a fan of an a cappela group that neither of them had heard of.

“I love music,” Winnie said. “Music is life. I want to audition for one of those TV shows and be a singer.”

“Sounds like we’re getting a little diva,” Vanessa said while her and Zoe were making dinner--an easy chicken, broccoli, and rice thing that just simmers. Winnie was attempting to find something to watch on TV but Zoe and Vanessa only had an antenna so the selection was limited. She was also laying on the floor, drawing on a piece of paper while sucking on a lollipop.

“I like her,” Zoe smiled and looked up at her from the kitchen. “She kind of looks like you.”

“What?” Vanessa sneered.

“I’m serious. Same hair, almost the same color. Your noses even look similar,” Zoe lovingly flicked Vanessa’s nose.

“Stop it,” Vanessa slapped at her hand. “I guess. It’s like she’s the daughter I never knew I had and she killed her father so she could hunt me down.”

“I’d pay to see that movie,” Zoe said. “We need to find out when enrollment is for Hyde Park and get her enrolled.”

“Should we enroll her into public school? Maybe we could look into private or Catholic schools,” Vanessa pointed out. “It might be safer.”

“I think being in a public school with 800 students from the south side of Chicago is also safe,” Zoe said.

From the front room, Winnie belched loudly and giggled like an idiot.

“And somehow I don’t think she’d fit in at a private or Catholic school.”

4.

Felix sat in a booth in a rundown diner with a girl in a dirty trenchcoat. The girl had at least four courses of food in front of her and was scarfing down one of the burgers. A fairly large tuxedo cat sat next to her in the booth. A bright yellow bag was next to Felix and really stood out against the darkness of the diner. “Cleo, slow down. You’re gonna choke or get a stomach ache.”

“Sorry, habit. You have to eat what you have right away or risk losing it,” Cleo answered.

“So why am I here?” Felix asked.

“To save lives. There’s something feeding on people but no one can see it,” Cleo said as she chewed.

“But you can?” Felix was skeptical.

“You can too if you just focus. Really pay attention to what is going on around you,” Cleo waved her hand around signaling to the diner. “The sorrow, that’s what I call it, took my mother and then it took my father. It takes so many people here and no one can do anything about it. It sucks anyone who has come here to help in and hurts them just as much.”

“What makes you think I can help?”

“You came highly recommended, you seem strong, and you care. You give a damn,” Cleo said and began feeding her cat pieces of the meat from her hamburger. Cleo leaned out of the booth and shouted “Can I get a to-go bag? I have friends I can give the rest of this to,” she said to Felix.

“So what does...the sorrow look like? What am I looking for?”

“Purple haze. It surrounds the body, like an aura. It starts out faint but then becomes darker until it almost turns black. You don’t want it to turn black. My Dad’s turned black right before he…” she stopped and turned to look out the window. Her cat raised up on her leg and head-butted her chin. A waitress dropped a bag on the table and walked away. “Let’s go,” Cleo began shoving the leftover food in the bed.

They walked through the neighborhood, yellow back hanging off of Felix’s shoulder. “I just need to focus?” he half questioned to Cleo. “A purple aura.”

“You have to be able to see it,” Cleo begged. “Come on, my friend is down this alley.”

They walked down the alley and turned a corner behind another building. Behind a couple of trash cans, a man in ratty clothes sat on the ground. “Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes,” he beamed when Cleo stood in front of him.

“Hey, Will. Brought you some food,” she handed the man the sack of food.

“Oh, Cleo, girl. The Lord certainly blessed us when He gave us you,” Will teared up and opened the sack.

“Don’t thank me too much. My friend here bought it,” Cleo motioned to Felix. “Felix, this is Will. Will, Felix.”

“But he bought it because of you,” Will said. “I swear, you’re the only good thing in this place.”

She hung her head and blushed. “I try.”

“His is lighter purple,” Felix said. “It dimmed when he was talking about you.”

“You can see it?” Cleo asked, hopefully.

“Yeah, I can see it on them too,” he pointed to a group of gang members past the alley on the other side of the street. “It’s darker on them though. One’s nearly black.”

“Oh, thank God. Now maybe we can figure out a way to help these people. I wasn’t paying attention to Will’s aura but you said it dimmed when he was talking about me?”

“Yeah, but what’s the point?” Felix suddenly said. “We can’t help these people.”

“What are you talking about? You were…” Cleo finally turned toward Felix who had started to walk away. His aura was deep purple, the sorrow working twice as hard to overcome. “Oh, damn…” Cleo sighed.




Karylee couldn’t remember how she had ended up here. Her mother and sister had died, father remarried and had a new family. She ran away and that’s all she remembers. How she ended up in this part of the city was a mystery to her. Two years she has been here and as far as she knew, no one had come looking for her.

Karylee had holed up in the alley across the street from a burned out house. It reminded her of home. The buildings weren’t as tall so it got some sun and the house was the only thing located on that square block of land. Occasionally she would sit on the porch but most of the time the house was used for drug deals or prostitute hook-ups.

“Hello, beautiful. Has anyone ever told you that? That you’re beautiful?” a man came up to her. She had watched him come from the burned out house across the street. “Would you like a friend? What’s your name?”

“K...Karylee,” she croaked as she took his hand.

“Beautiful name,” the man helped her up, she nearly fell over. “Oh, my. Let’s get some food in you. What do you say I buy you some dinner and you can pay me back by taking some pictures. If you play your cards right, you could be a star.”

Karylee nodded. “Y...Yes.”

“Come on, let’s get you some food and clean you up,” the man wrapped his arm around her waist and they walked down the street into the shadows of the buildings.

Back at the man’s apartment, Karylee was taking a shower after eating some pizza. A group of men stood outside the door, listening to the water run. “Ah, come on, just a peek,” one of them said.

“No, I promised no one would see her until she was ready. Just keep your pants on until her pants are off.”

The water stopped and they heard the curtain be pulled back. They scattered away from the door and waited. Karylee came out, her hair wet and stringy, her body wrapped in a towel. “I’m done. How do we want to do this?”

“Well, Karylee, it depends. What you do for us should be equal to what we did for you. You can get started on the couch over there. Maybe tell us a little about yourself.”

Karylee walked over to the couch and sat down in her towel, she tried to cover what she could up. “I’m Karylee, I’m from...the midwest,” she said, she couldn’t remember where she was from and then, for some reason, did not want to give a state. “I am sixteen and I like to read. Or at least I liked to,” she continued.

“Have you ever been kissed?” the man asked, his associates were filming and holding microphones. “Ever had a boyfriend?”

“Yes,” Karylee blushed. “It didn’t last very long.”

“What happened? Did you two ever make love?”

“I left home. We had sex before I left.”

“Did you like it?”

“I liked being wanted. I liked being that close to someone,” Karylee lowered her head. “Can I have my clothes?”

The man grumbled. “Yeah. Bring her some clothes. We’ll keep getting chummy,” he faked a smile. “So just the one time? Have you ever wanted to do it again?”

“I just want the intimacy,” Karylee said. She was handed her clothes and she turned around and dropped her towel to get dressed.

“We can give you that intimacy,” the man tried to convince her. “Show us a little something.”

“I don’t want to do this,” Karylee whispered, sadly.

“After we’ve been so nice to you? One show, that’s all we’re asking, and you can leave. You shouldn’t hide your beauty from the world.”

“One?” Karylee looked down at her body. “You really think I’m beautiful?”

“The world needs to know how beautiful you are,” the man smiled and licked his lips.

“No, I don’t want to be here. I have to go,” Karylee got up and began running toward the window on the other side of the room.

“Stop her! We’ll all have a taste on camera.”




“What are you doing?” Cleo shouted to Felix as he walked away. “You are supposed to help.”

“How can I help? No one here wants to help themselves so why should I help them?”

“The sorrow keeps them from helping themselves. You’re being affected by it too, you have to fight it. You have to stronger than this. You’ve been a hero for more than a century. Felix, quit walking away from me,” Cleo demanded.

“How am I supposed to help anyway? You don’t even have an idea on what to do.”

“You said Will’s aura dimmed when he was talking about me. We can start with that. Maybe it…” Cleo began tearing up. The sound of shattering glass came from above them. Karylee seemed to hang in midair for a split second before falling.

The shards fell to the alley on top of Felix and Cleo. “Here, grab a side and pull,” Felix tossed his yellow bag off his shoulder and held a side to Cleo. She pulled and backed up, the bag began stretching covering a decent area of the ground. Karylee fell into the bag safely. Her body was badly cut by the glass but she was alive and breathing. “Are you okay? What are you doing?”

“You saved me,” she was stunned. “Why would you save me?” Karylee began crying.

“Why wouldn’t I? Why would anyone just let someone die?”

“Your aura’s dimming,” Cleo pointed out to Felix. “Her’s is getting lighter too.”

“Who’s this? Your brother? Father?”

Felix had returned his bag to its normal size and turned to the men. “Leave us alone.”

“Two of them. Sir, if you go about your day and leave these two ladies with us, then we will let you live.”

Felix reached into his bag and pulled out a baseball bat. “They’re girls. Underage. You need to leave.”

“Don’t worry,” guns were pulled out and cocked “we’ll leave you breathing so that you can watch.”

“Leave us alone,” Cleo stepped in front of Felix and Karylee.

“Cleo, what are you…” Felix began but was interrupted by gunfire.

The bullets hit Cleo but bounced off of her. She ran over, within a split second, and grabbed the man, crushing his gun with her hand. “I’m going to smash your head into this wall,” she screamed pressing him into the wall.

“You do anything and my men will slice your friends to ribbons,” he cackled.

Cleo punched her fist through the wall. The two henchmen ran away. Cleo smiled. “Looks like your men aren’t going to do anything. Now, you’re going to leave too. Got that?” The man nodded and Cleo let him go. The man nervously ran away, following his henchmen.

“What was that?” Felix asked, putting his bat back into his bag.

“What is that?” she pointed to his bag. “How can a baseball bat fit in there? How did it stretch like that?”

“It’s, I guess, a magic bag,” he shrugged. “Why didn’t you tell me about your powers?”

“I’m a freak. I haven’t told anybody,” Cleo said. “This kind of stuff doesn’t usually go over well in this type of place.”

“I have an idea, Cleo come with me. What’s your name?”

“Karylee.”

“Karylee. Come with us and then I’ll get you to a hospital.”

The three of them gathered in the middle of a busy intersection. Few cars but a lot of foot traffic. People began gathering, wondering what these three were doing there. “Cleo brought me here. She brought me here to help you. To save you from your sorrow.”

“Save us? What are you going to do? Give me a million dollars?” shouted one man.

“I wanted to but I couldn’t do it alone. I needed Cleo and Karylee to help me through it and now we’re going to help all of you. Remember the good times, the happy times, the magic times, anytime that you gave love and were loved,” Felix said.

“You just said that you were no better than us so how are we supposed to remember the good times?” another man snarled.

“Let us help you. Cleo?”

Cleo began levitating, everyone went aghast. “You are not alone anymore. We will help this neighborhood because we have to. We need to help our friends and our loved ones. What I do may not be enough but together we can do anything.”

“Come on, Karylee. Let’s get you to a hospital,” Felix took Karylee’s hand and they walked away from the crowd.




Felix left the hospital, a slight smile on his face. “Good work today,” a voice said beside him.

“Hey, Rhona, how’s it going?” Felix asked. “What do you got for me?”

“You always know.”

“Over 300 years, over 50 assignments, they’re the only reason you talk to me,” Felix smiled big at her.

“Well, it’s a good one and hopefully a simple one,” Rhona began. “There’s a girl in Chicago that needs protection. We have her well covered at home but she needs someone at school. We can get you set up to be a teacher at her high school. You can keep an eye on her and make sure no one can get near her.”

“This girl seems important. What’s her deal?”

“She is what we call the Christchild,” Rhona said.

“Christchild? What’s that?”

“Basically she is the next Jesus Christ.”

5.

The beautiful Hyde Park Academy High School building was luminescent in the rising sun as it faced Stony Island Avenue. The first day of school consisted of helping the freshmen get acclimated to their new surroundings with teacher introductions, games, scavenger hunts, and numerous other things to make them feel at home. Photos were taken of every new student and was going to be hung up for the whole school to see. After lunch, all the freshmen went to their advisory teacher to get introduced to the learned portion of the school and then to take a short walkabout of their classes.

Winnie’s advisory teacher was Mr. Felix Sullivan. When his advisory students came in, the first thing they all noticed was the bright yellow bag on his desk. A couple students giggled about Felix’s purse which Felix heard but pretended to ignore. Winnie sat next to Heather Gratts, a girl she had gotten to know during the scavenger hunt. Since lunch they had been trying to find things that they had in common. “Everyone in my family went here. We’re all from the neighborhood,” Heather said.

“I just moved here. I was living with my grandparents but now I’m with my Mom and her girlfriend,” Winnie said.

“Your mom’s gay?”

“Yeah.”

“Where’s your dad?”

Winnie shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s never been in my life. My Mom wasn’t either until, like, a month ago.”

“Weird. Where’d you go to school before now?”

“I was home schooled.”

Heather pulled out her phone and began tapping the screen. “Do you have Facebook?”

“No, and I don’t think my Mom would let me have one.”

“Ah, too bad. Here, get close to me,” the pressed their heads together as Heather held the phone out. She held up a peace sign with her fingers and closed one eye. Winnie smiled normally and innocently. The picture was taken and Heather put her phone away. “When we start going to our classes, you can meet some of the cooler kids.”

“Thanks,” Winnie said.

The bell rang and the kids got up to go to their classes to get a feel for where they are and to meet their teachers. Felix grabbed his bag and water bottle and left his room for the teacher’s lounge. He went into to fill his bottle. As he was doing that, another teacher came in.

“Hello,” she said.

“Hey,” he answered. He finished filling his bottle and backed away from the watercooler so she could use it.

“I’m Laura Hanson. Math. I don’t have any freshmen.”

“I’m Felix Sullivan. Social studies. I have a plan period during first hour.”

“Is this your first year as a teacher?” she asked.

“Oh, God. Is it that obvious?”


“No, no. I was just asking. I am so I was just wondering.”

“Oh, okay. Yes, I’m a first-year teacher. It’s nice to know someone else who is as well,” Felix said. “Why math?”

“It came easy to me in school so when I decided to become a teacher and math was the obvious choice,” Laura said.

“Well, I guess someone has to teach it. I was never good at math. Now, history, I know the crap out of history,” Felix smiled, knowing he knew it well because he had experienced a lot of it firsthand. The bell rang indicating that the freshmen were to move to their next class. “Now I have to go. I’ll see you around, Laura.”

“Same to you, Felix.”




Winnie had Felix as her World History teacher during fourth period but Heather was also in that class. They had three of their seven classes together. They were quickly becoming best friends. Heather was the fourth of six children. Her older brother, Ta’Rahn, had recently graduated and was currently working, wanting to go to college. The next oldest brother, Jesse, would be a senior but dropped out and is now living with a friend. Both Jesse and his friend were in a gang so their parents, Roy and Jasmine, constantly worried about him. Her older sister, Promise, was very sports oriented while Heather couldn’t care less about them. Heather’s two youngest siblings, Marcus and Holly, were in sixth and fourth grade respectively. Also living in their tiny apartment was Heather’s grandmother, Jasmine’s mother, Belle, who has been bedridden for the last three years.

Roy Gratts worked for the city mostly doing street maintenance. Jasmine worked at a factory that produced chips but also worked as a janitor for an office building for four hours in the early morning hours for extra money.

“I wish I had brothers or sisters,” Winnie said to Heather.

“You can have one of mine,” Heather said.

“Can you come over after school?” Winnie asked.

“I don’t know. I’ll text my parents,” Heather got out her phone again and began texting.

“I hope you can. I want you to meet my Mom and see the bookstore.”

“Bookstore?”

“Yeah, we live above a bookstore.”

“That’s so cool,” Heather laughed. “They want to know the address but they said it’s fine.”

“Awesome,” Winnie squealed.




After school, Felix was sitting as his desk, working on what he was going to do tomorrow. He had no idea because he wasn’t really a teacher. He breathed a sigh of relief when Laura came into his room. “Thank you for interrupting what I was doing because I wanted to stop doing it.”

“You’re welcome,” Laura said. “Hey, do you want to grab an after-the-first-day-of-school drink?”

“You want to grab coffee or something?” Felix clarified.

“Or something.”

“Sure. I just need to finished tinkering with these lesson plans. Give me another twenty?” he glanced at the clock.

“You got it. Just come down to my room when you are done,” Laura said and left Felix’s room.

Felix watched her go and smiled. “All right, then,” he chuckled and smiled bigger as he went back to his lessons.

6.

Zoe and Vanessa snuggled in bed, Vanessa lightly caressing Zoe’s arm with the tips of her fingers. “How long has it been?” Vanessa asked.

“We’ve had Zoe for about two months,” Zoe answered. “I’m so glad she’s spending the night with Heather.”

“Me, too,” Vanessa rolled over onto Zoe and kissed her. “Let’s go make dinner.”

They got dressed and went into the kitchen. “I’ve been thinking about having kids of our own,” Zoe said. “Since we’ve gotten Winnie, I’ve really warmed to the idea of having more kids.”

“Really?” Vanessa seemed surprised. “I’ve been thinking about it too. And before we go any further, I’d want to carry it.”

“I didn’t care who’d do it but I was leaning toward you because of your curly hair, your perfect nose shape, and your adorable freckles. Not to mention your almost perfectly proportioned body,” Zoe reached over and pulled Vanessa to her and they kissed, hugging each other.

“How would we go about this and are we wanting to do a sperm donor or do we want to look into adoption?” Vanessa asked, after pulling away from their kiss.

“I would be fine looking into adoption but I would like us to have a natural child.”

“Maybe one of each?” Vanessa asked.

Zoe got out some hamburger and put it into a pan. “Really? If we had more kids, we couldn’t stay here.”

“We can find some other place. Maybe we could rent this apartment out or move the bookstore,” Vanessa said, getting out spaghetti and filling a pot with water. “We’d figure out something.”

“Yeah, we’d figure out something,” Zoe smiled at Vanessa.




Winnie and Heather were sitting on the front steps to Heather’s apartment looking at her phone. They were taking pictures of themselves and looking at the social media accounts of cute boys they had in their classes. “Do you think your Moms will ever let you have social media or a phone?”

“I think so. They say it’s for a safety reason but that they’d talk about next year,” Winnie answered. “Does Devon have any social media?”

“Devon Munch?” Heather sneered. “But he has that stupid hair and that big nose,” she made a few taps on the screen of her phone. “Here,” she handed Winnie her phone.

Winnie began scrolling through his pictures of him at the pool. “Heather!” Winnie suddenly exclaimed. “Look, I think you can see his dick in this picture.”

“What?” Heather took the phone back.

“The outline anyway,” Winnie clarified and pointed to an odd lump in Devon’s swim shorts.

“Eh, I don’t know. Maybe,” Heather shrugged.

“Heather, Winnie,” Jasmine called from the apartment window. “Come inside and help set the table.”

“We’ll be right up,” Heather hollered back.

When they got back upstairs, they helped set the table. When they were finished, Jasmine gave them another task. “Go see if Grandma Belle wants some food. She needs to wake up to take her medicine anyway,” Jasmine said.

“Come on, Winnie, you can meet her. Grandma Belle is pretty cool if she’s awake enough. She has some really stories from the olden days,” Heather said, taking Winnie’s hand and pulling toward a closed door. They walked in and quietly went up to the old, sleeping woman. “Grandma?” Heather shook her softly.

Grandma Belle moaned and then coughed. “What? What’s going on?”

“It’s dinnertime, Grandma. Would you like something to eat?” Heather asked.

“No. No, child.”

“This is my new friend, Winnie,” Heather introduced. “She just moved here over the summer.”

Grandma Belle put her glasses that were hanging around her neck on and looked hard at Winnie. “I need to take my medicine, Heather. Can you go get me some water?”

“Sure, Grandma. Would you like some food?”

“Maybe. If you have any potatoes,” Grandma Belle acquiesced. Heather went out of the room, leaving Winnie alone. “I knew I’d see you sooner or later,” she said to her.

Winnie looked around the room, confused. “What?”

“I knew I would see you. I knew I didn’t have much time left but seeing you here, in my presence, has made me so happy. Please, take my hand.”

Winnie reluctantly took Grandma Belle’s hand and got closer to her. “I’m glad I could make you happy, Grandma Belle.”

“I can now die happy and assured,” Grandma Belle squeezed Winnie’s hand. “I tried practicing your teachings every day of my life and I know there were times when I stumbled but you were always there to pick me back up.”
Winnie started to panic. “Grandma Belle, who do you think I am?”

“My Lord and Savior, thank you for coming. I can now die in peace. Bless you. Bless my family. Jesus Christ. Amen,” Grandma Belle cried, let out a breath, and her hand, still holding Winnie’s, went limp.

When Winnie realized what happened, she pulled her hand away with a slight scream. She began crying and backed up against the wall. Heather came back into the room holding a glass of water. “Winnie, what happened? Grandma?”

“She died,” Winnie sobbed. “She was talking to me and holding my hand and then she died.”

Roy and Jasmine came into the room. “Grandma Belle died?” Roy asked and ran over to his mother. “Mom? Mom?” he lightly tapped her face and held his ear close to her mouth.

“Come on, girls,” Jasmine ushered. “No need for you two to be in here. I am so sorry, Winnie. Do you want me to call your parents?”

“Yes, please,” Winnie continued sobbing.




“We are so sorry,” Jasmine said to Zoe and Vanessa.

“It’s not your fault or anyone else’s. It happens. You lost a beloved family member tonight. Our condolences,” Zoe took Jasmine’s hands. “Winnie, are you sure you don’t want to stay?”

“Not tonight,” Winnie sniffled but she was over the crying. “I need to talk to you about something.”

“Okay. We’ll try this again. Again, sorry about Grandma Belle. We’ll be in touch,” Zoe said and all got into the car, waving to the Gratts as they drove away. “Are you sure you’re okay, Winnie?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just what Grandma Belle was saying to me as she held my hand,” Winnie said, gently rubbing the hand that Grandma Belle had taken.

“What did she say?” Vanessa asked.

“It was like she thought I was someone else,” Winnie said. “She said I was her Lord and Savior. She said I was Jesus Christ.”

Zoe and Vanessa looked at each other. “She’s an elderly woman,” Zoe said. “Her eyes aren’t what they used to be. You should take it as a compliment that she found that kind of comfort in you.”

“I guess,” Winnie turned to look out the window.

“I’m sorry your sleepover ended so soon,” Vanessa said. “You and Heather can have another one soon.”

They continued driving to their house, the rest of the way, in silence.

7.

“We shall attack next week on Thursday,” Joshua said to the three beings he had gathered. “They will be out in the open. Their guard will be down. They will be surrounded by friends. It will be the perfect time.”

“How will we do it?” a woman asked. She was green and covered in plants with sticks and twigs in her long brown hair.

“We’ll cut the lights and get people separated,” Joshua began. “We need to separate the Christchild from that Bleak woman and that teacher. Dathan, you keep them locked up and as far away from the Christchild as you can. Eden, it’ll be up to you to grab who you can with your vines so they don’t get in our way. You can also help build a barrier to keep the Child’s protection at bay. Legion will patrol the school for any stragglers we forgot or couldn’t grab. Kill whoever you see. I will grab the Christchild and dispose of her and then that will be the end. No more Christ, no more Child of God,” Joshua said with delight.




Thursday rolled around and Zoe, Vanessa, and Winnie got ready for parent teacher conferences. The first quarter of school had ended a week ago and just about everyone was going to Hyde Park for conferences. Winnie had decent grades but a couple classes could’ve been better. They all arrived at school and went in, they were directed to the massive gymnasium where all of the teachers were sitting, grouped by subject.

“Where do you want to start?” Zoe asked Vanessa.

“Math,” Winnie said and began walking over to the math section where Winnie’s teacher, Ms. Bush, was talking with Ms. Hanson. “Hi, Ms. Bush.”

“Hello, Winnie, are these your parents?”

“Yes, pleased to meet you, Ms. Bush,” Zoe extended her hand. “I’m Zoe.”

“I’m Vanessa,” Vanessa introduced and gave a slight wave.

The three of them sat down and Ms. Bush pulled up Winnie’s information on the computer. “Winnie is a very good student. Sometimes she’s easily distracted but she’s good at math even if she doesn’t want to be,” Ms. Bush chuckled and looked at Winnie over her glasses that were at the edge of her nose. “Has everything been okay at home?”

“Yeah. We think so anyway, why?” Zoe asked.

“A little while ago, Winnie seemed very distraught and quiet. It didn’t seem to affect her schoolwork it just seemed to throw her off balance for a bit.”

“It may have to do with with the death of Heather’s grandma,” Zoe said. “Winnie was the only one in the room and the grandma said some weird things to her. I guess maybe we should’ve notified the school,” Zoe looked at Vanessa.

“I guess so,” Vanessa shrugged.

“Okay. There were just a couple teachers concerned and we wondered. That would be scary to be all alone in a room when someone passes,” Ms. Bush said. “Onto Winnie’s schoolwork,” she said, more upbeat and turned the computer to Zoe and Vanessa.




Zoe and Vanessa went to see all of Winnie’s other teachers and finished their night with Mr. Sullivan. “Winnette is a delight,” Felix said, using Winnie’s full name. “I do think I am her least favorite subject. You would think someone like her would be thrilled with Ancient World History but she’s not having any of it. And it’s because she’s not interested that her grade is a low C.”

“We’ve talked to her about this grade. She turns in the assignments though, right?” Zoe asked.

Felix glanced at his laptop and scrolled through the assignments on the online gradebook. “She does but it looks like she just jots down answers.”

Everyone turned to look at Winnie. “What? I’m just not interested. I’m still passing,” she shrugged.

“You need to try harder, Winnie. You have a C with three more quarters to go,” Zoe said.

“Winnie, I am amazing with history. If you need help come ask me,” Vanessa said.

“All we do is read through the book and take notes,” Winnie said. “I think Ancient HIstory is interesting but Mr. Sullivan makes it boring.”

“Winnie!” Zoe snapped.

Felix laughed. “No, it’s okay. This is my first year, I need constructive criticism. I’m not quite sure what I’m doing yet but I’ll get there. I will take Winnette’s info to heart and see if I can shake things up.”

The gym lights went out as did every other light in and around the building. As first everyone was calm but suddenly everyone started screaming. The screaming got quieter and Zoe was carried away from the gym by someone unknown. The gym got quiet and Zoe was thrown, by herself, somewhere else in the school.

8.

Zoe didn’t know where in the school she was but the emergency lights in the school had finally come on so the room she was in was illuminated in a weird blue light. “Hello?” she yelled but her voice stopped at the walls. She stood up and began walking to the door. She slowly opened it and saw the rest of the school lit up in the emergency lights. “Hello?” she yelled again.
She slowly walked down the hall, unsure which floor she was on or where in the school. “Winnie! Vanessa!” she screamed, her voice now echoing through the school but getting no reply. “Where are they? What is going on?”

“Everyone is fine. They are all still in the gym. Your...daughter is with Joshua, right now. You can all go when he is finished,” someone said from the darkness.

“Joshua? My ex-boyfriend? Finished doing what?”

“Crucifying her,” he said.

“Crucifying?” Zoe sighed and shook her head. “Never open your legs for crazy. Where are they?”

“I don’t know and even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you. The Christchild must be eradicated.”

“Christchild? Okay, now this is getting weird,” Zoe said. “Levitate,” she said as she waved her hand at the man.

The man levitated a few feet but then struck Zoe’s hand with a chain that he was holding and he landed back on the floor. “Joshua must not be stopped.”

“Ow, you ass. Chain here,” she said and again waved her hand around. The chain drifted toward her but the guy kept a tight grip on it.

“Your magic does not affect me, whore,” he said. “Dathan is immune to magic.”

“Explosion,” Zoe shouted and waved her hand at the wall. The wall exploded in concrete, brick, lockers, and rebar and fell on Dathan but it didn’t keep him down long.
Dathan took a step toward Zoe and whipped his chain again, wrapping around Zoe’s wrist. He pulled her down to the ground and toward him. “We were going to keep you alive but since you won’t stop this childishness, you will have to be killed as well,” Dathan said.

“Broken leg,” Zoe said quickly, moving her hand that wasn’t caught by the chain.

A loud cracking sound echoed from Dathan but he remained standing, towering over Zoe. Dathan then wrapped the chain around Zoe’s neck and began pulling. “First I will crush your windpipe, then I will break your neck, then I will take your head off,” he growled.

Unable to say anything, Zoe’s face turned bright red then to purple. She began crying as she started seeing spots and felt herself get weaker. Her hands dropped from the chain and her body began going limp. A sword then sliced through Dathan’s abdomen, the chain came loose from Zoe’s neck and she scurried away, taking in big gulps of air.

The sword went up Dathan’s body then made a ninety degree turn. Dathan went limp and lifeless as Felix stepped out of the shadows. “Are you okay?” he asked Zoe.

She coughed and rubbed her neck and throat. “Yeah, I’m good. Where’d you get that sword?” she asked him.

“From my magic bag,” he lifted his bag up so she could see it. “It has anything and everything in here. Come on, we need to find Winnette.”

“I need to know what’s going on. I’m clearly not being given the full story.”

“I’ll tell you as we walk. I was chosen by Rhona to keep an eye on Winnette when she was out of your care at school. I’m not really a teacher which is why she is doing poorly in my class because I am bad at my job,” Felix explained.

“Well, that’s good to know. Why does Winnie need protection? She just a little girl.”

“She’s the Christchild,” Felix said.

“Christchild? What is that? That guy called her that, too.”

“I’m sure you are familiar with Jesus Christ and how He’s the son of God, right? Well, the concept of Christ is an actual thing. It’s like a soul and has bouncing from one person to the next for millennia. When one Christ dies, the soul appears in another body the next instance. Following me?”

“I guess. So Winnie is Jesus?”

“No, Jesus was Jesus. Winnie is Winnie. Technically, it’d be Winnette Christ. There is usually a small faction of people who want Christ dead. If the body is killed through non-natural means, the soul cannot be transferred and Christ becomes effectively dead. It’s never happened before but they’ve gotten close with Jesus and now Winnie. It seems they only go after Christ when It does something important.”

“I know what Jesus did but what has Winnie done?”

“She’s the first female Christ.”

They continued walking and began descending the stairs to the second story. “Wait, hasn’t this Christ thing been around for millennia? Why has it taken so long for a female one?”

“Men don’t like their power threatened,” Felix said. “God wanted a female Christ long before now but was always convinced to wait. She finally decided to do it and look what happened.”

“God’s a She?”

“Most definitely. It’s why females carry the gift of life. Had She known that men would then use that gift to keep women down, She probably would change that idea.”

“Such a weird night,” Zoe sighed.

As they continued walking through the school to the gym, someone else stepped out of the shadows. “Do not come any closer,” it said. “You are not to stop what is supposed to happen.”

“Who says?” Zoe asked, taking a step toward the person.

“We do,” it said. “We are Legion.”

9.

“Legion?” Zoe asked.

“We are Legion,” Legion said again.

“Legion,” Felix thought. “He’s an entity in the Bible, made up of demons, like, hundreds or thousands of them. That’s why he...they use ‘we’ instead of ‘I’,” Felix explained.

“That’s good to know but how do we get through him...them?”

“I don’t know. Jesus exorcised them in the Bible,” Felix said.

“Oh, well, where are we going to get Jesus at a time like this?” Zoe yelled.

“Well, technically your daughter,” Felix nodded while biting his lip. “Maybe I have something that will at least help us get by him,” he began digging around in his yellow bag.

Zoe used several magic spells on Legion but none of them even caused them to budge. She grew her power thinking about Vanessa and Winnie but even that barely pushed Legion back a foot. Zoe continued holding Legion back.

Felix finally pulled something out of his bag and smiled.

“This should work,” he said, happily. He threw a tiny glass bottle at Legion. It shattered when it hit the demon entity. Legion screamed, fell to its knees, and began steaming.

“What was that?” Zoe asked, impressed. They continued walking down the hallway past Legion.

“A small bottle of holy water,” Felix said. “It may not actually destroy him but it will keep him at bay hopefully until this is all over.”




In the darkness, Vanessa and Winnie hid. They were as far away from the gym as possible under a stage or something. They hadn’t heard anything in at least an hour except for yelling far away from them. Winnie was panting and holding back tears while Vanessa hugged her and stroked her hair. Vanessa was worried someone would hear Winnie’s breathing or that it would turn into hyperventilation or something and tried to think of something that would calm her down.

“Winnie,” Vanessa said in a whisper. “Do you want to hear a story?”

“Won’t they hear us?” Winnie shook.

“It will be fine. I’ll protect you,” Vanessa held Winnie tighter.

“What kind of story?”

“How about a love story?” Vanessa asked. “How about I tell you the story of how I met your mother?”




Zoe was, again, facing one of her bouts of homelessness so she resorted to performing her magic on the streets of Chicago. Today, she stood outside the Chicago Art Institute. For the most part, a decent crowd would gather around her but few gave anything more than a dollar no matter how good the magic she did was.

A crowd of girls, originally heading into the Institute, came over and watched Zoe. They all seemed impressed but Zoe wasn’t expecting much money from them. Two of the girls were holding hands and the third girl was the odd person out and seemed nervous to be standing there.

The odd girl caught Zoe’s eye. “For my trick, I’m going to need a volunteer,” Zoe said and took a couple steps toward the girl. The odd girl did not volunteer or do anything resmebling wanting to be a part of the show but Zoe gingerly took her hand and pulled her over. “What is your name?”

“Vanessa,” the odd girl answered, a bit upset for being singled out in a crowd of people.

“Beautiful name, Vanessa,” Zoe said. “Thank you for volunteering.”

“I didn’t,” Vanessa answered.

“Everyone look at this beautiful young woman,” Zoe shouted. She moved her hands along Vanessa’s side, over her shoulders, and above her head. “Vanessa and I just met. There are no strings and invisible boxes anyone on or around her. Correct?”

The majority of the crowd nodded in agreement. The two girls Vanessa was with were ecstatic.

“Then why is she floating?” Zoe asked, calling attention to Vanessa’s feet which were a foot or so off of the ground. Zoe moved her hands along Vanessa’s side and above her head again and added swiping her hands underneath her feet. The crowd oohed and applauded. Most of the people put some money into the fedora Zoe was using to panhandle. Zoe lowered Vanessa to the ground. “Let’s have a hand for our lovely volunteer.” The audience applauded for Vanessa.

Vanessa went back to the other women she was with. One of her friends looked at Zoe. “How did you do that?” she asked.

“A magician never reveals their secrets,” Zoe smiled. “Although I could divulge the secret to you maybe over dinner or at least some coffee?” Zoe asked Vanessa.

Vanessa smiled quickly then glanced at her friends. “I’m sorry, I can’t. Thanks for the offer though.” The three of them walked off and went toward the Art Institute. Zoe watched them enter and then began to gather up her things. He looked at the money and saw that it was a decent haul so at least the day wasn’t a total loss. Zoe was about ready to start crossing the street when she heard someone scream. “Hey! Wait. I do accept your offer,” Vanessa panted after running toward Zoe.

“What? Why’d you say no then?”

“I was with my ex-girlfriend and her new girlfriend and I’m living with them. It’s very weird. How about I explain it over coffee. Tomorrow at two? Unity Coffee?”

“That would be great.”




Zoe and Vanessa talked a lot about each other during their coffee date and then their actual date the next night. “I just want to let you know that Emily knows about us so I’m not going to act like I’m cheating tonight,” Vanessa said as they sat down at the table.

Vanessa and Emily had broken up only a few months ago but Vanessa did not have the money to move out so she stayed with Emily while she saved money. Emily began dating Sophia and Emily allowed Sophia to move in last month. Zoe was now living with a friend and was hoping to get out of there within the next month. Zoe loved that Vanessa was just like her in a way but she held a more optimistic view of her situation than Zoe did. Zoe had fallen hard and fast for this girl.

“So how did you do it?” Vanessa suddenly asked.

“What?”

“You never told me how you got me to float,” Vanessa smiled at Zoe.

“I didn’t? I thought that was whole point of getting coffee,” Zoe smiled back. “I got you to float…” Zoe hesitated and quickly debated whether or not to tell Vanessa about her magic powers. She looked at Vanessa, her curly hair, her wide brown eyes, her freckled skin and slight upturned nose. “I can do magic.”

“Yeah? But how’d you get me to float? There were no strings or mirrors or glass boxes. I could not feel the ground underneath my feet.”

No, I can actually do magic. It’s a genetic thing. Watch,” Zoe began waving her two fingers at a glass of water, it slowly rose above the table and was soon floating above them. Vanessa stared in awe. Zoe worried about
Vanessa’s reaction to what was going on. The glass then slowly lowered back down to the table.

Vanessa stared at the glass and then at Zoe. “That was amazing. Why aren’t you rich? With powers like that, you could rule the world.”

“And we choose not to. My father and grandfather used their powers in a much more charitable way than I do. My grandfather was a superhero back in the 1940s and 1950s. My father was a doctor and surgeon. I don’t really show off my skills very often. In fact, you are the first girlfriend I’ve ever revealed my abilities to.”

“So I’m your first?” Vanessa smiled, gritting her teeth. “I’m your girlfriend?”

“Yeah, I guess if you want to be. Sorry I jumped the gun.”

“No, I’m glad you did,” Vanessa took Zoe’s hand and rubbed it softly with her fingers.




After their fourth date a little more than a week later, the two made love for the first time. Not having anywhere to go, their first time was in a cheap motel where they paid hourly for the room. Vanessa cuddled with Zoe, resting her head on Zoe’s shoulder just above the breast. She rubbed Zoe’s stomach and occasionally circled her belly button with her finger as they lay in the motel bed.

“Sorry our first time had to be in this dank pit of despair,” Zoe apologized.

“It’s fine. Believe or not, I’ve actually done it in worse places.”

Zoe chuckled. “Me too.”

“I’m just happy being so close to you,” Vanessa hugged Zoe.

They slowly got out of bed, got dressed, and left the motel. They did not want to leave each other but knew that they had to. Being together was something special that they gave themselves rarely. Over the next two months, they made love only two more times after the first and both were in that motel. They had planned on meeting for a fourth time but Zoe wanted to make it special.

Zoe went early and used magic to clean the room and make upgrades. She made it brighter and more welcoming. After a lovely dinner, Zoe took Vanessa to the motel, which she wasn’t expecting. “Oh, I see what that fancy dinner was about,” Vanessa smiled.

“I have a surprise for you,” Zoe said. As they approached their room, Zoe covered Vanessa’s eyes. “Close your eyes. You’re going to love this.” Zoe led Vanessa, her eyes closed, Zoe’s hands covering them, into the motel room. Vanessa immediately noticed that it had a different smell, something clean and not just bleach and some other powerful cleanser. Zoe walked her to the middle of the room and pulled her hands away. “Open them,” she whispered.

Vanessa opened her eyes and found herself surrounded by the swirling white and blue and wispy yellow of Van Gogh’s ‘The Starry Night’. It was Vanessa’s favorite painting and was a painting that gave her hope and optimism. Vanessa teared up at the sight and marveled at the way the light reflected onto her and Zoe’s skin. “How did you…?” she started to ask but cut herself off, knowing the answer.

“I wanted tonight to be special,” Zoe said.

“Every night with you is special,” Vanessa quickly said.

“I’ve also scheduled for us to visit with the owner of a used bookstore about us taking it over.”

“What? A bookstore? We don’t even have a place to live.”

“It has an apartment upstairs. For once, I actually thought things through.”

“You think we should move in with each other?”

Zoe began to feel nervous. “Vanessa, I really like you and I know we’ve only been together a short time but…”

“It’s okay. I want us to be together, too. I feels like we’re sneaking around and I don’t want to do that. I’m an adult.”

“Oh, thank God. I was so worried,” Zoe embraced Vanessa. “I didn’t want to lose you.”

“You’re not going to lose me. I love you, Zoe,” Vanessa kissed Zoe and soon they were making love under Van Gogh’s stars and moon.

They made love for what seemed like forever and when they were finished, Vanessa once again on top of her, Zoe held her tight, “I love you, too.”




“And we’ve been together for almost four years,” Vanessa concluded to Winnie, both of them still scrunched up in the darkness.

“I hope the person I love does something like that for me,” Winnie said.

“They can if they are a magician. Or at the very least, a painter,” Vanessa chuckled.

They heard a door slam then slow footsteps echoing across the room. They hunkered back further in the crawlspace and waited.

10.

Zoe and Felix found the gym where the conferences were being held. They slowly entered through the double doors and saw teachers, parents, and students tied up along the wall by vines and other kinds of plants. “This is kind of creepy,” Zoe said, looking around.

“Looks like the work of Lily,” Felix said as he pulled a jungle knife out of his yellow bag. “Wait. No. It doesn’t look like anyone is dead so Eden.”

“I’m surprised you were able to get past Dathan and Legion so quickly,” Eden said from the shadows. “It’s good to see you again, Felix,” she purred.

“Nice to see you too,” Felix began cutting people out of the vines holding them against the wall. “Why are you working with Joshua? You’re not like him.”

“He needed someone who could keep all the people out of the way. He just wants the Christchild, no one else.”

“Well, he’s not getting her,” Zoe said, using her magic to untangle vines and let people go. “How could one lapse in judgement cause so many problems?” she asked under her breath about when she was dating Joshua back in high school.

Mom, help, Zoe suddenly heard. Zoe fell to her knees and grimaced in pain.

“What’s wrong?” Felix exclaimed.

“I hear Winnie. She’s calling for help.”

“I didn’t hear anything.”

“It was like in my brain,” Zoe said, standing back up. “Like telepathy or something.”

“That’s weird. We need to get to her,” Felix said.

“I’ll go,” Zoe said. “You help these people. You’re not going to try to stop us, are you?” Zoe glared at Eden.

“I don’t agree with what Joshua is doing,” Eden revealed. “I agreed to delay, not harm or kill.”

“Thank you,” Zoe said and ran past Eden. Somehow she knew exactly where she was going. When she closed her eyes, she could see Winnie and Vanessa hiding from Joshua but he was getting closer with each passing second. She ran faster. I’m coming, Winnie. I’m coming.

“Felix, what’s going on?” a voice said to Felix as he was cutting down one of the teachers.

“Leah?” Felix looked over. “I’m sorry. It’s hard to explain. Here, let me get you down.”

Felix chopped the vines away from Leah and helped her down. “You can explain later. I think you are needed elsewhere,” Leah said.

“Here,” he handed Leah the jungle knife. “You can help get everyone down. I need to help Zoe and Winnie. I’ll be back.”

Leah quickly kissed Felix. “I’ll see you,” she said.

Felix ran off, following the way Zoe went. “Are you going to help get rid of the vines?” he asked Eden as he ran by her.

“Go to the Christchild. Stop Joshua,” Eden said and the vines started unraveling around the gym.

Zoe arrived in the theater room where Joshua was slowly walking through toward the abandoned stage where Zoe and Vanessa were hiding. Zoe quietly walked toward Joshua, her hands ready to do whatever it takes.

“Come to watch your daughter and girlfriend die?” he suddenly said.

“That’s not going to happen,” Zoe said, waved her hand and slammed Joshua against the wall. Using her magic, she held him there, crushing him against the wall. “Winnie. Vanessa. You can come out. I’m here,” Zoe yelled, she continued putting pressure on Joshua against the wall.

Vanessa and Winnie came out from under the stage. Felix arrived in the theater and saw what was going on. “Zoe?”

“Wait a second. I’m going to kill this bastard,” she shouted and added more pressure. Joshua was having trouble breathing and you could hear bones snap. “No one hurts my family.”

11.

“You can’t kill me,” Joshua wheezed. “I am forever.”

“What?” Zoe was confused.

“He’s right. If you kill him, he will just come back. Like Christ, his soul and presence will just transfer to someone else,” Felix explained. “It’s why he hasn’t been stopped before.”

Zoe lessened the pressure on Joshua and then let him go. “Then what are we supposed to do? Keep running? Keep fighting? It’s not fair. It’s not fair that Winnie has to live her life in fear. It’s not fair that any of the Christchildren had to live their lives in fear. And all because, what? Why does Christ have to die, Joshua?”

Joshua coughed up blood and looked up at Zoe. “Without Christ, there is no hope. Without hope, people are easier to control, more willing to follow. Without Christ, evil wins.”

“Have you seen history?” Zoe walked over Joshua and kicked him down onto the floor. “Evil wins all the time. Chaos reigns all over the world throughout time. It always will. Is it always permanent? No, but it is always there. You don’t need to murder an innocent child to make evil and chaos happen.”

Vanessa and Winnie walked over to Zoe and looked at Joshua. “So what do we do?”

“Can he be imprisoned or something with Grandpa and Rhona?” Zoe asked Felix.

“As soon as he get better, he’ll be back out here, hunting down Winnie. Don’t you think we’d do something if we could?”

“I have an idea,” Zoe said and looked hard at Joshua. She raised her hand and began performing some sort of spell on him.

“What are you doing?” he asked and then his eyes rolled to the back of his head, he made a sickening gurgling sound and then collapsed on the floor. His fingers twitched but he was quiet and immobile.

“What did you do?” Vanessa asked.

“Um, I...I lobotomized him,” Zoe said. “He’ll spend the rest of his existence in a lifeless shell. Not dead, but he probably wishes he would be. Felix, can he go with Rhona now?”

“If not, I’m sure she can place him somewhere.”

“How did you learn to do that?” Vanessa asked, a hint of nervousness in her voice.

“I told you that I wasn’t a good girl,” Zoe said, taking Vanessa’s hand.

“That was cool,” Winnie gasped, still staring at Joshua.

“Okay, we’re going to get out of here,” Zoe put her hands on Winnie’s shoulders and began leading her out of the theater. “We’re going home. If you need anything, you know where to find us.”




“I’m not sure I’m okay with this,” Zoe said. “She’s only a freshman.”

“It’s the spring formal. She was asked. Besides, it’s mostly just going to be friends hanging out. Also, if we don’t get some time alone, I will set something on fire,” Vanessa said. Heather’s mom pulled up to the bookstore with Heather and her and Winnie’s dates in tow. Vanessa opened the door a bit. “Winnie, everyone is here. Get down here.”

Zoe and Vanessa talked with Heather’s mom until Winnie came down nearly a minute later. Her hair, now longer, was styled, dyed a reddish-brown, and in loose curls. Her dress was a simple pale gold with little brown accents on it. Everyone awed when they saw her.

“You are the most beautiful girl in the world,” Zoe said, hugging her girl. “So who are these young men?” Zoe eyed the two boys.

“My date is Ian Von Bargen,” she pointed at her date.

“Hi, Ms. Bleak. I’m Ian,” the young man extended his hand to Zoe. She shook it and smiled at him.

“Nice to meet you, Ian. I’ve heard a little about you. You got Winnie in trouble a few weeks ago,” Zoe said.

“We really like to talk to each other in science class,” Ian blushed.

“Hey, Ms. Bleak, I’m Chris Marcelli,” Heather’s date extended his hand.

“Nice to meet you, too. This is Vanessa Spader, Winnie’s other Mom,” Zoe introduced. “Are you kids going to dinner?”

“Yes. We have reservations at Xanthippe,” Ian said.

“Ooh, reservations. You kids should get going but first, a picture,” Zoe pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. The kids all lined up, Winnie on one end, Ian next to her, then Heather, and then Chris. Winnie tilted her head as she smiled and they all put their arms behind each others backs. They all smiled big as Zoe and Heather’s mom took pictures of the four of them. “All right. We’ll see you kids later.”

They all piled into the car and Zoe and Vanessa watched as they disappeared down Cottage Grove. “She is such a wonderful young woman,” Vanessa said.

“She really is,” Zoe was tearing up. “God, I wish we could’ve had her when she was a baby. I would’ve loved to see her as a little girl.”

“Well, I’ve been thinking about that,” Vanessa took Zoe’s hand and they walked back into the bookstore. “Now, it won’t be Winnie, specifically, but maybe could have our own child and see them as a baby and a little girl. Or boy,” Vanessa began, closing the bookstore door behind her.




“Will you be back next year?” Leah asked Felix as they chaperoned the spring formal. “I know you aren’t technically a teacher but I kind of like having you around.”

“No, I will not be back next year. Like you said, I am no teacher and these students deserve someone better than me,” Felix said. “I will be sticking around though. I’ve kind of started seeing someone and it’s getting pretty serious.”

“Is it?” Leah gave Felix a look.

“Yeah. And I’ll prove it to you,” Felix noticed something across the gym. “Right after I say hello to someone.” Felix patted Leah’s stomach as he walked away over to Winnie, Heather, Ian, and Chris. “Ms. Bleak. Ms. Gratts. Boys,” Felix nodded.

“Hey, Mr. Sullivan,” the girls answered, the boys following a second or so behind.

“Having fun?”

“We just got here but so far it’s cool,” Chris said.

“I don’t need to be protected anymore, Mr. Sullivan,” Winnie said.

“I know. I’m just saying hi. Also, I’m telling you that you are my favorite student,” Felix smiled at her.

“I thought teachers weren’t supposed to have favorites,” Winnie grinned back.

“I’m not a teacher,” Felix shrugged. “You kids have fun. Responsible fun,” he corrected himself and pointed at each of them.

“We will Mr. Sullivan,” Ian said and put his arms around Winnie and started swaying.

Felix rejoined Leah and took her hand. “Would you like to dance?”

“Oh, I’m not a dancer,” she giggled and shook her head.

“You don’t have to be. Come on,” Felix pulled her into the crowd and they began dancing terribly with each other.




“I’m gonna go make pancakes,” Vanessa said after she slid her underwear back on. “That’s not weird is it?”

“Not at all. Help yourself. Make me a couple,” Zoe said, still lying in bed, enjoying the post-coital ambiance. “I’ll be out in a minute.”

Vanessa grabbed a shirt she used for a pajama shirt and left the bedroom. Zoe stretched then slowly sat up on the edge of the bed. She rubbed her eyes and sighed heavily. She reached down to the floor to pick up her underwear. She stood up and began getting dressed. When she turned around, there was a book on the bed with a note attached. She picked up the book, a photo album, and read the note. Rhona and I may not have been conventional parents, but we were still parents. Wish you could’ve watched her grow in real life. Grandpa.

Zoe opened the album and saw it loaded with pictures of a tiny baby girl with wide brown eyes. As she turned the pages, the girl grew up with beautiful brown hair and green eyes. In the middle of the album was a single picture of Winnie. She was in front of a brick wall, on brick steps. Her elbows were resting on her knees with her right hand in a fist on her right cheek. Her left hand was on her other cheek, fingers curled down. She was staring off into the distance with a lost smile on her face, her brown hair nearly white in the sunlight and blowing in the wind.

A tear landed on the page. “Vanessa, take a look at this. Look at our little girl,” and she ran out of the bedroom.  ▩




By Brian Hall
Copyright © 2016-2017. Tauy Creek.
Originally published in Zoe Bleak #1-11.