AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He would.
But a tiny flicker of unwanted doubt sprouted in his mind. What if he found her too late and she was already dead?
February 13th
2:20 A.M.
“Let’s go try again,” Ruth begged her husband.
It felt like time was running out. Like if she didn’t accomplish her goals soon, then she never would. They needed someone to take over. Someone to keep creating dolls, someone to help her and Job become dolls. She had thought that person would be Tommy, but now that he was dead, there was only one other choice. Clara Candella.
The woman was the answer to her prayers. The answer totheirprayers. The only one who could make sure that she and Job were together forever.
Only she wouldn’t cooperate.
Ruth had already given her the marks of four of the children, but it hadn’t been enough. She wouldn’t do it. She wouldn’t kill Katie Logan. If she didn’t, then she’d never learn. And shehadto learn. Clara had to know what to do, how to transform a living person into a doll. If she didn’t, she wouldn’t be able to save her and Job. They didn’t have long.Jobdidn’t have long. He was fading. She was losing him. She wouldn’t—she wouldn’t lose him. She wouldn’t let it happen. Clara just needed more of a push. She needed more of the marks to help her understand. Maybe she needed all twenty-two.
“Be patient, my dear,” Job took her hand in his and brought it to his lips, kissing her palm. “She has only been with us a few hours; it will take some time.”
But she couldn’t be patient. They didn’t have much time left. She could feel it in her bones. “Maybe she just needs all the facts. We didn’t explain everything to her. Maybe if we did, she would understand better.”
Job’s blue eyes turned serious. “Why are you in such a rush? What are you afraid of, my love?”
She couldn’t help it; tears welled in her eyes. Ruth didn’t want to cry in front of Job; it always worried him when she did. He hated for her to be sad, he had spent his whole life trying to make her happy. And he did make her happy. That was why she was crying now. She couldn’t imagine her life without him. She didn’t want a life without him. From the moment they had met, she had known he was hers—her soul mate, her other half.
They had met in their late teens. Two lost, lonely souls wandering through life unsure of who they were and what the future held for them. Their connection had been immediate. They'd both felt it. Back then, both of them had been battling suicidal thoughts. Ruth had thought that her life was worth nothing, thatshewas worth nothing, and then there was Job. A handsome, smart, sensitive man who made her feel, for the first time in her life, that she was wanted. She hadn’t realized that anyone else was like her, that there were other people who hated themselves, too—but Job had revealed his own deep, dark depression that left him feeling that death was a better option than living. Together they had healed. Together they had grown. Together they were one.
“I'm afraid of losing you,” she wept.
Drawing her closer, down onto his lap, his arms engulfing her in the warm hugs that had comforted her so many times before. Grabbing his face, she pulled it down to meet hers. Her mouth found his, hungry, starving, for him. They may be in the seventies now, but their love was still as passionate as when they’d met over fifty years ago.
Job’s hands reached for her blouse buttons, but Ruth stopped him. “You don’t want to?” he asked.
“Oh, I want to, but not here.”
“Upstairs?”
“She should see. Clara. How it works. So she understands.”
“But, sweetheart, the time of blood can't come through you anymore.”
“But it can come through her.” Ruth prepared herself to make the ultimate sacrifice for the greater good.
“You want me to join with her to help the children pass on?” Job looked surprised.
“Yes, but not yet, not until she understands, not until she’s ready to do what needs to be done. Maybe it would help her to know that it’s painless. That we make sure of that. That it’s just a journey from one existence to another. To a better existence,” she added. “Please, let’s try again. It can't hurt. She’s had some time to calm down, to think about what we told her. Please.”
His face softened into the smile she loved so much. When she looked at her husband, she still saw the man she’d met at nineteen; she didn’t see the toll the years and his illnesses had taken on him. “Whatever makes you happy, my dear.”
Pleased, she stood, took his wheelchair handles and pushed him to the bottom of the stairs. Using the handrail, Job managed to slowly make his way up the stairs. With his health in decline again, he was struggling to get about without the wheelchair. He had a prosthetic leg, but he didn’t like to wear it; he said it irritated the sensitive skin where his leg ended halfway down his thigh. They kept another wheelchair on the second floor, and getting up to the attic was easy because they'd been able to install a ramp.
Ruth was tingling with excitement as she pushed her husband up the ramp and unlocked the attic door. She was so close; they'd make Clara understand. Of course, they would. Why wouldn’t they? Tommy had come to understand. Clara would, too. After all, shewasone of the chosen ones.
All three heads snapped toward her when she opened the door.
Katie was curled up in Clara’s lap, and Jimmy stood, standing protectively between her and Job, and the girls.
“Let the children go, please.” Clara’s voice was weak, her eyes hazy with pain.
