image
image
image

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

image

––––––––

image

Brandon rushes to Lizzie. Trista gasps, covers her mouth.

"My father would never take your son, he has no reason to Treena."

He's been saying strange things all night Trista," responds Treena, "and now he's gone...and my son is gone."

Everyone now crowds into the room and watch as Brandon rubs Lizzie's head. "Lizzie...Lizzie, what happened? Did Joshua take Finley? Did he...did he Lizzie? Please girl, wake up."

Lizzie moans. "Ohhhhh."

"What be goin' on in here?"

Everyone turns to see Joshua standing in the doorway.

Treena and Brandon shoot glances at each other as Lizzie opens her eyes.

"Lizzie, Lizzie, are you okay?" Brandon asks.

"I feel groggy, like I passed out but yes, I'm okay."

"Who took Finley Lizzie...who took him?" quizzes Brandon.

”I...I can't remember," mumbles Lizzie.

Jessa scans the room. "Who's not here?"

Everyone else glances at everyone else.

"This can't be." Brandon says. He turns to Peter. "Peter, where is Belladine?"

"She said she was going to the bathroom, that, that she would be right back." Peter frantically responds. "She wasn't gone that long."

Brandon stares at Treena. "It can't be Belladine...not her, she would never take or harm Finley."

Treena asks, "Then why is Belladine not here and Finley is gone?"

Silence fills the room. Finally, Peter says, "Unless it wasn't Belladine."

"What does that mean, it wasn't Belladine?" asks Brandon.

"It means," Peter answers, "that someone or something has taken over her body."

"But it was Joshua asking all the questions about Finley." Treena points out. "It was Joshua who called him a savior."

"I said no such thing mahn," Joshua responds. "in fact, I remember nothing about what went on during dinner nor do I remember asking anything about Finley."

"Well, you did papa. You don't remember when I told you to stop?" asks Trista.

"No, my daughter, I remember none of that."

"Whatever was controlling Joshua is probably controlling Belladine." Peter says. "We have to get out and find her before she completely disappears."

"But where do we go, where do we even start?" asks Treena.

"I say we call the police and report Finley stolen," suggests Kyle. "we increase the manpower from just us to the entire Miami police force. Besides, she's been gone less than an hour."

"I like it Kyle," agrees Brandon, "I'm calling them."

Mermaid, Creature, Female, Fictional, Fins, Girl

Two cops, Wilson and Gomez, cruise down a busy Miami street. Wilson glances at the dash clock.

"Two more hours to go Gomez. You think we can stay out of trouble for two more hours partner?"

"I hope not." Gomez answers.

"That's about right. My new rookie partner wants some action, he wants to pull over a car load of assholes who pull their guns."

"No, I don't. I'll take a drunk we pull over and make them dance to prove they haven't been drinking." Gomez grins.

"Well, I know..." Wilson stops and watches a car pass by them going the opposite way. "I think that's the car they just put out an amber alert on."

Gomez turns on his lights and skids a U-turn, punches the gas while Wilson calls in the pursuit.

"This is two three two six in pursuit of amber alert suspect heading south on Dixie Highway in a twenty sixteen beige Toyota Camry."

"You got your action Gomez. Now let's get this kid back."

Belladine glances at the flashing lights in her rear-view mirror. Finley sits in a car seat strapped into the passenger seat.  Belladine smiles. "Hold on little man, time for some fun."  She jams the gas pedal down as she approaches an intersection with a red light. She bombs through as cars on both sides with a green light have to slam the brakes on. One car smashes into the car next to them.

As they fly down the street, two more patrol cars join the chase. Belladine turns onto side streets as if she knows where she's going.

"I have to give you credit Bell, you know your way around Miami. Right Finley?"

Finley coos and laughs, seemingly enjoying the ride.

Belladine rubs his head. "Everything's going to be all right little man. We just have to let these guys chase us around for a little while more."

Two patrol cars pull into the center of the intersection, blocking her path. She floors the gas and as she's near the patrol cars, she swerves onto a lawn in front of the corner house and drives down the street to her left.

She pumps her fist. "Hoooaahhhh, I'm good!"

In front of her in the next intersection, four patrol cars block her path. The cops crouch behind their cars with pistols pointed at her. She glances in the rear-view mirror to see five cars are behind her.

"End of the line Finley. But we gave 'em a hell of a ride."

She slows the car, stops in front of the intersection. She rolls the window down, winks at Finley and extends her arms out the window.

Mermaid, Creature, Female, Fictional, Fins, Girl

Treena holds her cell phone. "Yes, thank you, we'll be right down." she turns to everyone and glances at her watch. "Thank you all for being here. Finley is safe so Brandon and I are going down to pick him up. Please, all of you go home and rest, it's five in the morning and I'm sure all of you are as exhausted as we are."

Peter asks, "Can I go with you, I want to find out what's going on."

"She can't see anybody until she's booked." Treena answers. "She goes before the judge in the afternoon."

"Well, I'd feel better if I could ride with you." Peter says.

"I guess that's fine if it's okay with Brandon."

"Sure, no problem," he concedes.

Mermaid, Creature, Female, Fictional, Fins, Girl

Treena sits in the back seat with Finley, Peter in the passenger seat. The faint glow of the early morning sun starts to peek over the horizon.

Peter turns his head toward the back. "Treena, would you take my little savior out of his car seat and hand him to me...please."

"What did you say?" demands Brandon.

"My little savior, hand him to me...now!"

Brandon pulls off the road into a grassy strip. "Get out of my car, now!"

"I will, just hand Finley to me," responds Peter as Brandon jumps out of the car.

Treena's eyes well. "Why are you doing this Peter...why?"

"Peter is doing this because I'm making him do it." responds Peter.

Brandon yanks the door open, grabs Peter and drags him out of the car. Peter's eyes turn red as they glare at Brandon.

"Stop Brandon, now!" Peter wickedly demands.

Instantly, Brandon releases him and takes a step back. Peter holds his hand out, Brandon hands him his cell phone. He opens Treena's door, she turns over her cell phone. Peter tosses them in the front seat.

"Get out of the car Treena." Treena slides out, closes the door, hurries next to Brandon. They glance at each other, then back at Peter. Brandon tries to cock his arm to hit Peter, but it freezes halfway up. Brandon's mouth quivers and his frozen arm trembles as Peter sticks his face close to Brandon's.

"Did you really think you could defeat me? I mean really? Did you not think I would be back to claim my savior?" Peter stares hard at Brandon. "I thought not. You Americans have a saying, I think it's, uhh, give me a second." he looks into the sky, closes his eyes. "That's it...it's never over till it's over. You two should have realized that before now. But, unfortunately for you, it really is over. Bye bye."

He backs up a few steps. "You two really need to open your eyes, take a little bit more notice of what's going on around you." he stops, cradles his chin, thinks. "Of course, now that I think about it, just because you open your eyes doesn't mean you can see. I know, let's see if you can see this. Watch closely." He shakes his arms, stretches his neck, breathes like he's on the edge of a cliff ready to dive. He looks upward, stops and points at Brandon.

"I know what you're thinking, you think you're the good guy...so typical, everyone thinks they're the good guy. Let's see, where was I? Oh yes." He repeats the same process, his body shakes and trembles, a loud BOOM cracks the air and Peter collapses. Thanos stands there, dressed very Florida casual.

"We'll talk to you later. Much, much later." Thanos hops into the driver's seat, the car screams down the road.

Treena and Brandon are immediately released from their frozen state. Peter moans on the ground, Treena kneels and lifts up his head.

"Where am I?" a bewildered Peter asks.

"I have no idea." answers a more bewildered Treena. "But we need to talk to the police before Thanos gets too far."

"Thanos?" says Peter. "But I thought he was dead."

"So did we." Brandon mumbles. "So did we."

Mermaid, Creature, Female, Fictional, Fins, Girl

Brandon and Treena sit in a detective's office at the police station. "So now, for the second time, your son has been kidnapped?"  they nod. "Second time in five hours, is this what you're telling me?"

"Yes! And you're wasting time in here asking questions while my son is taken further and further away!" Treena almost screams at him.

"Sooo, the woman we're holding now..."

"Yes, Belladine." says Treena.

"This, 'Belladine' did not kidnap your child, is that what you're saying?" asks the confused detective.

"Correct, she did not." replies Treena.

"So, in that case, we should, uhh...we should release her? Is that correct?"

"Yes, please do so. Now, what are we going to do about my son?"

Mermaid, Creature, Female, Fictional, Fins, Girl

Brandon sits in the front seat of a taxi. Belladine, Peter and Treena sit in the back seat.

"How did you know?" Treena asks Belladine.

"We all knew Treena. We knew it in the bathroom. We just didn't know who. Imagine that." she sighs. "Who would have thought Thanos would be brought back. And he used my Peter. I am so angry about that I don't know what to do. I want to rip off his face, yanks his arms off, I want..."

"Easy my love." says Peter. "Don't let him also control your emotions when he's not here. Your anger will destroy you...as Thanos' failure with Finley has destroyed him."

Belladine kisses Peter on the cheek. "As usual, you're my voice of calmness and reason."