Fairy Rock

Chapter 29: Time Has Passed

Three years have passed, and Tevin lives in a small, muggy one-bedroom apartment in Hattonville, Washington. The knob falls off the air conditioner as he tries to turn it on with no success.

He sits at his green, foldable kitchen table full of prescription medications with a bandage on his big toe from stepping on a splinter from the wooden floor. My psychiatrist wants me to take Buspirone for my anxiety, and then I must take Seroquel and Haliperdol to treat my schizophrenia. They won't believe my story about the fairies kidnapping everyone. If I had never jumped off Fairy Rock in the first place, this would have never happened. I'm sure my parents, Serenity, Richard, his parents, and Susan are probably dead. There is no way I can save them by myself, and the stupid authorities think I'm crazy. If I return to the police station, they'll probably send me back to the psych ward.

He goes to the bathroom mirror and looks at the stubble on his unshaven, freckled face. Out of rage, he slings the flat toothpaste tube, an empty bottle of mouthwash, and a dented, blue hairspray can to the floor.

He scratches dandruff from his thick black afro until the pain throbs his head. "I miss everyone so much. I hate myself, and I wish I were dead. I can't live with myself for what I've done."

Tevin goes to his busted coach with foam sticking out its cushion. He takes a nearly empty plastic bottle of cheap whiskey from the nightstand and sips on it. He thinks of when he was ten, and his parents took him on a bicycle ride through the neighborhood. His mother had a long, pink ten-speed bike that matched the socks on her muscular, thin legs. His dad rode a big, blue, twelve-speed bicycle that matched his sneakers and allowed him to ride on the handlebars.

He recalls swinging his arms and legs freely, leaning against his daddy's burly body.

"Would you like some ice cream?" his dad asked him.

"I want Butter Pecan," he told him.

They rode their bicycles to Sugar Sweets off Main Street and Fogle Rd.

His mother hugged him tightly and told him she loved him as they all sat and watched the sunset on a bench outside the ice cream shop.

"So, Tevin, do you like any girls at your school?" Mr. Jenkins asked.

He blushed, and he hid his face in his mother's arms. "Yes."

Mrs. Jenkins rubbed her hands through his hair. "Who is it?"

"Her name is Serenity," he giggled.

"Mrs. Cooper's daughter," Mrs. Jenkins mentioned.

Mr. Jenkins pressed his thick black mustache against his forehead and kissed him. "I believe that you'll get her. We are Jenkins, and the ladies love us."

Mrs. Jenkins hit her husband on his arm. "Oh dear, stop it."

The alarm clock goes off, and Tevin comes out of his daydream. "I have to go to work."

Tevin goes into his bedroom full of newspaper articles of reporters interviewing him about what happened in Fairyville glued to his wall. He turns it off, grabs a double shot of bottom-shelf vodka, and exits his apartment.

It is humid outside, and the wind is calm on this peaceful night in the streets of Hattonville. Tevin strolls down the gray asphalt pavement of Amber Avenue, watching numerous couples hold hands as they take pictures of themselves outside the bars.

Tevin arrives at the newly built church, where he works as a janitor.

He pulls the gold bars on the double doors and goes straight upstairs to the administration office.

He sticks his timecard into the work clock and punches it. I hope I don't smell like liquor because Pastor Anderson will be angry. If I lose this job, I don't know what to do with my miserable life.

Tevin puts on a pair of overalls and grabs a mop bucket out of the broom closet to clean the vinyl floors. He cracks open a window to let some of the smell of hydrogen peroxide formula in the soap out of the room.

A short, heavyset, bald man with a white beard stands at the end of the hallway. He has a name tag on his black suit and tie that reads, "Pastor Dan Anderson."

"Hello there, Tevin."

"Hello, sir."

"How are you feeling today?"

"Not too good."

"Are you having thoughts of harming yourself again?"

"Yes."

Pastor Anderson takes him into the main chapel that seats four hundred people, and they sit in the pews. "I can tell you been drinking, but I won't fire you. You know, Tevin. God does not put anything you cannot handle in your life."

"Pastor, nobody believes me when I said the fairies kidnapped them."

Pastor Anderson rests his hand on Tevin's knee. "I believe you, Tevin."

"Pastor, I can't go back to Fairy Rock to save them because the government has the town sealed off."

Tevin stands up and paces back and forth through the church's aisles. "They all were kidnapped because I jumped off Fairy Rock. I thought the fairies would help me get with Serenity."

"You were lusting after her."

"Yes, and I am so sorry."

Tevin kneels and puts his head down as tears spew out of his eyes.

Pastor Anderson comes to his side. "If I can help you stop the fairies and possibly save the lives of the people of Fairyville, will you be able to do it?"

"Yes, Pastor, I'll do anything to save them all."

Pastor Anderson helps him to his feet and holds his hand. "I believe that fairies are demonic creatures. With holy water, we can make a potion to stop them all. Follow me to my office."

Tevin has a smirk on his face as his eyes open wide. Is this a solution to the problem? I want to find a way to sneak back into town and jump off Fairy Rock. I can poison the fairies and save everyone who is still alive. I hope that Pastor Anderson's plan will work.