The Paranormal World

This Child Will (chapter one)

It was approaching twilight as Cherece Guiles sat at the bus stop waiting for the number fifty-five to take her from what always felt like the middle of nowhere to her apartment, not that far away, but still a rather lengthy walk. She recalled the amount of time she had spent sitting in what was becoming a blistering chill when suddenly from out of nowhere, a woman dressed like a streetwalker appeared and sat down next to her. She recalled feeling the eyes of the woman looking at her before finally speaking a word.

“Do you have a cigarette, baby?”

Without a word or a second thought, Cherece reached inside of her purse and produced a pack, smacking it lightly to force one out. She turned her head as the prostitute took it. It was then when Cherece experienced what sounded like the voice of a the woman in her head. She then turned to the streetwalker, Cherece with a puzzled expression.

“Did you say something, ma’am?”

The prostitute responded with nothing more than a sick, throaty laugh before standing up and sashaying away with cat-like grace. It was immediately after her departure when the man named Bill entered into Cherece’s soon to be damaged life.

He was, of course, polite and extremely well mannered there, on Birmingnorth Avenue, a quarter of a mile south of where the assault would take place. From what she could remember, it did seem quieter than the norm in that part of the city. And, now that she thought of it, he seemed to fit that quietness; white, humble, speaking to her with so much charm, so much sensitivity. She thought of his superior, assertive walk as he headed towards her, proud, unafraid of the place or of its people, how, judging from his ready smile, she concluded that he was a stark contrast from those around him. There in a disheveled city, he stood, spotless in his sky blue, polyester, flair bottom pants and beige fly collar, silk shirt, the fashion for the better part of the seventies. Something about him made him seem overtly contented, well bred, suburban in a city stereotypical in it’s blackness, uncommonly desolate for any place in America, people pushing shopping carts along the streets to transport their goods from the store to their home, stray dogs rummaging through the toppled trash barrels, at least three or four liquor stores, all within a one-mile radius. 

Cherece always lived according to the lessons her elders taught her, one of which was not to trust the people in her home town of Holtsville, California, the hoodlums in their bandannas and khaki pants, the dregs who’d neglected life’s spiritual factor. This man, however, was certainly not from here. He was too professional looking. He must have been an attorney or a judge in a court of law, someone just passing through to view how the inferior half struggled from one day to the next. He must have been a doctor or a college professor at USC or UCLA.

There was no doubt in this woman’s embarrassingly innocent mind that he was the true measure of a man, especially compared to all of this! She looked in the mirror across the room where, suddenly, his image appeared, the mouth curling into a wry smile, the eyes childishly malicious, peering into her soul and somehow seeing all it lacked. The harsh sensation of              fingernails clawing the small of her back left an indelible mental impression. And though it was far different from her first sexual experience, only three years earlier, it was easy to equate the two. He was also an older man, inexperienced in love, lacking in the passion she expected. But with him she could see herself as a gift, not the object of spite.

He said, “It’s a shame, miss, how we’re taught to disregard so many beautiful people of the world.” And he shook his head with a look of deep contemplation on his face.

“You know, I’m the type who can sense inner beauty, especially in a women. If there’s a speck of it, I can sense it in a minute.”

He spoke, like a well-honed actor, the baritone, round and flowing. Cherece was his captive audience and she showed it in the light of her eyes. She showed it in her voice that became deeply sensual.