The Pagan Stone: A Short Story

“Are you ready?” Cal Hawkins asks his girlfriend, Quinn Black. The two of them share an affinity with the past and are able, especially when joining their hands and focus together, to view events that have happened in the past. He sits down on the rug in front of his couch and reaches for her hands. Surrounding them, sitting on various pieces of furniture or the floor, are their friends.. the four men and women who are in this whole mess with them.

“No,” Quinn responds as she joins him on the floor. Her eyes are full of apprehension, fear, and love as she crosses her legs and then reaches to take his hands into hers. “I'm not, but that doesn't change the fact that we're doing this.” She looks deep into his eyes, remembering how it felt when

[i]The doctor slips out an Emergency Exit door that he has disabled. His eyes have an almost-vacant look to them as he hurries to his car as fast as he can without drawing suspicion to himself. He pulls the strap of the duffel bag he carries from his shoulder and lays it carefully on the passenger seat, fastening a seat belt around it before sliding behind the wheel and driving away from the hospital. Within an hour, he is walking along a trail in Hawkins Wood that leads to the Pagan Stone. He sets the duffel bag on the ground at the base of the stone, opening it and lifting out a tiny, perfectly healthy, baby girl. He lays her on top of the stone and falls to his knees as a the life slowly drains from his body.

The baby screams and cries as she lays on top of the stone, flames lifting into the air and surrounding the stone. The smoke from the flames intensifies and thickens, slowly lifting the infant into the air and carrying her out of the clearing and into the woods itself. She is nestled down next to a momma wolf who is nursing two other pups and left there.[/i]

The scene changes again, and this time Cal and Quinn are looking at a scene Cal remembers all too

“Getting girls to fight your battles for you now, Turner?” he asks, spitting on the ground at Gage’s feet. Taking complete advantage of Gage’s distraction after tossing the girl toward him, he lunges toward his enemy with an open switchblade.

The teenage girl, steadying herself against Gage for a few moments before regaining her balance, sees the knife and moves in front of Gage as if to protect him. She tries to grab the knife, seeing the sharpness of it and knowing it would hurt the boy, screaming again as the knife goes straight through the palm of her hand.

Napper doesn’t slow down. As Gage tries to pull the girl back out of the way, he lunges forward again. He smiles in satisfaction as, this time, his knife hits home. As Gage falls to the ground, blood beginning to spread across the chest of the t-shirt he’s wearing, he yanks the knife out and takes off running with a triumphant laugh.

Gage tries to sit up but falls back down. He turns toward the girl. “Are you okay?” he manages to ask as he struggles to remain conscious. He reaches toward