The Nemesis

CHAPTER ELEVEN: CAMILLIE'S SPOOKY GIFT

 In the dead of the night, up the treacherous Santa Monica mountain range, in the all-quiet garden Lowe Castle, only indistinct "pit-a-pat" whirlwind of Lennon's hurried stalk around the dewy, plush grass of the backyard,

"Whoo-whoo-whoo", Lennon whistles an eerie tune, wandering around the groovy yaupon holly maze to a small stone den under the wisteria grove around a Roman cherub fountain.

He bends down in front of the den on his bare knees and drones, "Yoo-hoo. Kisses. Huggies".

Heavy pants sound from the den before Troye's two dogs sluggishly trudge out of it, with eyes half-asleep and limbs still asleep.

An excited smile beams upon Lennon's once-rigid face as he claps his hands and jumps up and down like a child about to go to best friends' house for a playdate. He observes the Kisses and Huggies yawn and pant as they remotely walk around the Roman cherub fountain, then begins to imitate the dogs panting, "Huh, pooh, huh, pooh!" as he crawls on the gravel ground behind the dogs' butts, on all fours.

However, Lennon's eccentric fun is cut short when an agonized "Ahhhhhhhh!" pierces through the tranquil air like a bullet. Kisses and Huggies, annoyed at yet another disturbance of their time, begin to angrily bark, "Arf! Rrrrrrarf! Rarf! Rarf!", which Lennon happily imitates as he rubs his head against the two dogs' muscular buttocks.
Despite Kisses and Huggies' sheer anger, the agonized screams continue to blare like an earthquake alarm, prompting the dogs to menacingly sprint towards the sound with their dracula fangs bared and ears flipped back, more than ready for a fierce combat. Lennon scurries behind them, still on all fours as he, too, bares his irregular teeth in a clumsy "Grrrrrr!".

The trio bolt into the epitome of the screams – the Main House – and up the stairs, obscured into monstrous tentacles by the withering lights of sporadic scones on the medieval tapestry-adorned walls.

"Aarrrghhh! Ahah! Ahah! Ahah!", blood-curdling screams, mixed with labored breaths echo around the staircase walls like thousands of transparent banshees wailing from behind the walls.

Lennon imitates the screams, "Ahhhh! Ahhh! Ahhh!", as he, now drenched in sweat and knees bruised from crawling around the immense area of the garden and up the endless, winding flights of stairs, steps into the upstairs hall.

He trails behind the dogs and into a macabre scene fresh out of a slasher film.

There, on the blood-stained bed sheets, littered with several ropes, a bloodied fireplace poker, random vertical pieces of torn fabric, and a saliva-glazed gray-and-black-striped sock, lies a beat-up and completely naked Camillie, screaming and convulsing in unbearable pain, as a bloody stream of amniotic fluid gushes out between her open legs. While, on the far corner of the room, Finn, his black, stringy hair blown up like a cheap Einstein wig, scarcely dressed in only his gray underpants, nervously paces around the floor, with an overjoyed smile, that starkly contradicts his edgy demeanor, and biting his nail as he surreptitiously mumbles to himself–

"El's having my baby! El's having my baby...".

Camillie's nails dig into the bed sheets and she throws back her head, strains every muscle and squeezes every ounce of energy in her body, as if to rip herself apart into two; sweat, mixed with the burgundy blood seeping out from a deep gash on her forehead, streams to her round, bulging belly and drips down its curved edge like a waterfall.

Kisses and Huggies dance around the screaming Camillie, viciously barking and growling at her but never daring to prance on her, while Lennon calmly walks over to a retro telephone on the bedside table, saying, "Mommy said call 911 if your mate is hurt. Lennon is going to call 911. Ambulance is good guys".

However, in the very second his hand touches the telephone, Finn, with madness burning in his ebony, yin sanpaku eyes, races across the scream-filled room and rips the telephone phone out of Lennon's hand with an unbelievably diabolical force. A startled Lennon flinches in fear as Finn throws the telephone set to the window, immediately shattering it and making thousands of shards rain down inside the chaotic room.

"No 911! No! Bad men will kill El!", Finn formidably bellows straight into Lennon, whose face was petrified into an exact twin of the Ghostface mask with the shocked O-shaped mouth.

Lennon blinks twice and gulps before running out of the room in a frenzy, as if his pants had caught fire, followed by Kisses and Huggies, who had been spooked by the violent Finn.

Boiling saliva spews out of her bruised and swollen lips as Camillie writhes in pain, like a worm being scorched by a torch, besides Finn, who frantically radios Noah on his walkie-talkie.

"CODE RED! El is giving birth to my baby! El is giving birth!", Finn hysterically yells into his walkie-talkie.

"What?", asks Gaten, unable to hear a thing as loud rock music plays in his car.

"Maya! Shut up the radio!", Gaten shouts from the backseat, where Caleb and Noah are, collapsed onto each other, fast asleep.

Gaten takes a big gulp of his Coca Cola and pushes Noah's walkie-talkie up to his ear, saying, "Mmhm-", when Finn's yell squarely punches him in the eardrum—

"El! El is having my baby! She is giving birth!".

Gaten's mouth explodes with Coca Cola, spitting drops of the acidic brown liquid onto Noah and Caleb's faces, and loudly asks in utter disbelief, "What? El is giving birth?!".

Maya accidentally slams the accelerator in shock, causing Caleb and Noah to jerk awake from their slumber and Gaten to drop Noah's walkie-talkie to the floor.

"CODE RED! Gaten, are you listening! CODE RED!", Finn's voice blares out from the fallen walkie-talkie.

"El is giving birth!", shouts a panicked Maya, as she hyperventilates and taps her hands on the steering wheel.

All three boys dive to get the walkie-talkie, which Noah swiftly sweeps up and asks out of absolute confusion and shock, "Finn! El is giving birth? El is?", unable to process what Finn is saying.

"Hurry! Where are you guys! El is giving birth to my baby!", Finn's voice screams through the walkie talkie speakers.

"Got it! Arriving in T-15 minutes!", Noah plays along, sounding equally urgent as Finn, before shutting off the walkie-talkie.

Pip's mahogany, long eyelashes delicately flutter open, like the wings of a butterfly, and a satisfied smile blooms on her tenderly swollen rosy lips as opalescent morning sunshine greets her blushing face.

She stretches up her spindly bare arms, feeling the pleasantly cool fabric of the silken, blush-pink pillows piled up above her head. Her hands leisurely strokes every detail of the cloudy world of pillows until it lands onto a mop of soft, dark-chocolate curls that seems to smoothly melt into the warmth of her hands.

Her loving kisses, very slowly, trails down from the curls to Carlisle's serene eyelids and falls upon his sweet tequila-scented red lips.