Prelude (An Alec Winters Series, Book 1) Read online

  Alec walked the rest of the corridor alone. As he did, he saw the spirits of other people who were there to comfort their loved ones. The disembodied souls offered a gentle caress or soft word as consolation, but their purposes were merely to let their families know they were not alone or forgotten. Many of the inmates rocked back and forth while holding onto their abdomens. Many talked gibberish. Some pulled at their hair while others tugged at their clothing as if imprisoned by the seamed constraints. Others wept intermittently between outbursts of incoherent, angry shouts.

  All of the women had one thing in common: each seemed deeply troubled by some experience or memory that refused to set her free. When he neared, stillness followed as their repetitive actions halted briefly. The inmates gazed at him with clarity for a few fleeting moments. After he passed by, the previous motions began again and were repeated incessantly as the imprisoned fell back into despair.

  Alec, undisturbed by the melee, moved on. He’d seen a lot since the night of his transformation. The mutterings of these women didn’t adversely affect or frighten him the way it did other visitors. Already, he’d seen men die violent deaths. He’d heard the terrified pleas of vicious criminals. He’d seen souls tortured by horrid memories. He’d seen spiritual phenomenon that most people could never imagine. In addition, he’d seen children and innocents look on his face with adoration and love, recognizing him in his true and pure angelic form. It was clear that each soul in this place dealt with the tragedies of her life the best way she could.

  Now, almost at the end of the corridor, Alec stopped. He softly knocked on the closed door of his sister’s room. “Cat? Cat love, it’s Alec. I’ve come to see you. Come, sweet little sister. Come; join me in the garden room,” he called out softly. Hoping the words penetrated the haze of her fog, he waited patiently. He was rewarded with the sound of rustling papers. She took time to put away sketches drawn in private…sketches of angels…sketches of him. Those drawings papered the walls of her room, surrounding her in that memory alone. She wanted, nor needed, any other.

  “Alec, is it really you?” she asked with a lilting trill through the closed door.

  “Yes, Cat. It’s really me.”

  This ritualistic greeting would continue for many years.

  If Alec had gone inside the room, he would have seen that Cat drew sketches of all those he’d saved…Sarah, the six young boys, Anita, and a host of others were there. The angel’s redemption stories unfolded in the drawings plastered on her walls. Even without easy access to a television, radio, or newspaper, his sister ‘saw’ her angel redeemer save the lives of innocent ones. Their faces appeared in the drawings as clearly as the angel who had saved them.

  Catalina was psychically attuned to Alec. She had clear vision of the angel and those he saved. That sensitivity to supernatural forces labeled most of the women in this prison as insane. Seeing into other realms can cause one to appear crazy, especially to those who can’t see such things.

  “Oh, my angel,” Cat cried out joyfully in response. “Is it really you? Have you come to cast your light on me again?” Then, the steel panel that separated them flung wide and she rushed into his arms. “Oh, it is you! I knew I’d see you again. I knew you’d come back.”

  Cat cried against his chest while Alec wrapped his arms around her slight frame, holding her securely. She shivered from his gentle electrical touch and exalted in the comfort of the white wings encircling her. Alec held his little sister close as she sobbed and mumbled words of gratitude for his intervention, for saving her and the others who needed him. It was always on her mind and not very far from his thoughts either.

  After the crying finished, Alec took Cat by the hand and led her back to the garden room, a sun porch filled with fragrant flowering plants. There, with the sun streaming through the windows and surrounded by lovely, sweet-smelling bouquets, they sat quietly, holding hands. A female orderly came in with two lunch trays. Alec got up to help serve his sister and then thanked the staffer for her assistance.

  Although they chatted softly while eating, Catalina didn’t ask for updates on the world or the family outside these walls. She didn’t care. She had everything she needed or wanted sitting beside her and in her own small cell.

  Chapter 19

  “How is this possible?” Cat finally asked as she looked around the lovely room, and then, back at her brother.

  “I’ve come to see you three times before, but you wouldn’t come out of your room. Mattie, the guard, brought me to you this time. She wants me to encourage you to join in the hospital’s daily routines,” Alec truthfully replied and then chuckled. “It seems she’s worried about the ‘littlest chicken wing.’”

  “Is that what they call me?” she asked with surprise.

  “It is.”

  “Why does this Mattie person care?” Cat continued. “So many people hate us now…I mean, what does she get out of it?”

  “That’s a very cynical attitude, Cat. I suppose that if she helps you, it helps her too. You know that the staff charts everything you do, right?” Alec replied. Cat nodded so he continued, “Well, if you ever want to get a day-pass to visit the family at home, then you have to do the things required of you. They’re keeping score. Just like it was in school, they’re grading you.”

  “I do stuff,” she’d reflexively argued.

  “I know. Mattie told me that you go to the weekly sessions and that you have lunch with the other patients on occasion, but you need to push yourself to do more. Can you do that, Cat?”

  “Why should I? What’s the point?”

  “You know I’ve enlisted. I leave in only a few days. One day, I’ll be back. When I get home, I want to know that you have the option to come live with the family. Wouldn’t you like that too?” Alec asked. “It’s important to me. You might want to get out of here one day.”

  Cat quietly pressed her lips together before speaking, “Not while you’re away, Alec. Not while you’re away.”

  “I won’t be away forever, Cat,” he reassured. “When I do come back for good, I want to return to my real family—you, Mom, and Sabrina. So, please, do whatever it takes to win those points. All right? Can you do that?”

  “I’ll try to be good, Alec. That’s what I want too. Besides, just so you know, no one told me you were the visitor. I would have come out had I known it was really you.”

  True to her word, Cat did behave. She followed the prescribed routine so that Alec would be proud of her when he returned. She adhered to all the requirements, but she also spent a lot of time in her room drawing the latest pictures of Alec, her angel-redeemer, and those he saved. No matter where he was, she connected with him. She witnessed everything her angel did. She saw each person he saved and sketched the images to chronicle Alec’s life while he was away.

  Chapter 20

  Alec Winters had been gone from New Orleans for over a year. However, fully occupied by the army’s training programs, he was unable to visit his family or Sabrina. He was unaware of the social problems and stigma that his friends and family suffered after his departure. He had hoped that his absence would allow things to settle down for everyone he’d left behind. When he called, neither Cassidy nor Sabrina worried him with their troubles. They only shared the positive things with him.

  Sabrina Devereux, Chaz Lambert, and Danaé Chisholm would graduate at the end of the 1994-95 school year. Danaé had become a close friend and confidant on the night of Alec’s arrest. The three seniors had remained devoted to each other ever since.

  While their senior year and impending graduation should’ve been a joyous occasion, it wasn’t. As Alec’s recognized supporters, school-life had been almost intolerable for Chaz, Sabrina, and Danaé. Even after all that time, they were considered traitors. It seemed no one was willing to let the past go. In the eyes of the biased community and school, anyone who stood with the Winters family was an outcast too. As a result, the three students spent a great deal of time together and became the closest o
f friends.

  They bonded with each other over the common interest of Alec Winters, but it was more than that…there was a necessity to protect and look out for each other. If alone, Sabrina and Chaz were open to verbal attacks, and even assault, for putting their faith in Alec.

  Without faculty support, once on campus, they were on their own and subject to bullying. Danaé was fortunate enough to escape such harassment, mainly because she was formidable. Due to such hostilities, the three students ate lunch together, waited for each other after class, and walked home together. Often, Danaé’s blonde head was seen huddled together with Sabrina’s dark head while Chaz stood close with his arms around both of them.

  Sadly, Chaz was shoved, pushed, and tripped by other male students. Sabrina had to fend off slurs and gross comments. A particularly favorite insult came from members of the football team, “So Sabrina, I hear you like murderers. How about I murder you with this?” The remark, followed by obscene gestures as the spokesman made fists and pumped his hips towards her, was intended to hurt and shame.

  It did.

  Danaé came to her rescue on more than one occasion. Having plenty of experience with her own reprehensible father and some of his friends, she had a way with men that often left them speechless. She also seemed to know every sordid detail in the lives of everyone.

  “Get yourself on home, Robby, before I call your mother. She still spanks your ass, right. With a switch? Or, does she use a belt or paddle now that you’re her big boy?”

  Taunted and trailed by hoots and the hilarious laughter of his teammates, Robby did go home. After that, he avoided the threesome and refused to join in when others accosted them. It was only one example of Danaé’s loyalty. Overly well-versed in the community’s darkest secrets, Danaé’s comments threw cold water on anyone who had the nerve to affront her friends. Other students, who were familiar with her, went in the opposite direction to avoid the small group.

  During the last month, before graduation, no one invited the trio to the private senior parties. That exclusion hurt Chaz and Sabrina most. Even though they weren’t part of the popular cliques, they were from good families, and had never before been left out of those social events.

  Danaé observed the hurt and disappointment for both of them and rallied her friends. “Forget the private, hoity-toity parties. We won’t let these imbeciles keep us from our rightful celebrations. We graduate in only a few weeks. We’ll hold our heads high and attend all the public affairs intended for seniors. Are you with me?”

  To support each other, Sabrina, Chaz, and Danaé arrived together at each event. They sipped spiked punch together, danced together, and left together. The public parties weren’t so bad; it was where all the other misfits celebrated as well. Feeling like outcasts themselves, none of the other seniors bothered or harassed Sabrina, Chaz, or Danaé.

  “We fit right in,” Sabrina acknowledged.

  “Yes, we do, Chaz agreed.

  “If you stop to think about it, there are more of us here at the public functions than there are of them at the private parties,” Danaé commented.

  “I don’t know why we’ve let the minority punish us so much,” Chaz said. “Those few have tried to ruin our lives.”

  “They’ve almost succeeded,” Sabrina admitted. “I hate the way we’ve been treated.”

  “Yes, but you have to consider that the majority of the student body doesn’t feel the same way. Look around again. Everyone is different. Each one is from a family of people with different ethnic, racial, religious, and political backgrounds. These smaller groups, when combined, make a large crowd. No one here is offended that we are at this function. All the attacks have been committed by club members, the athletic department, and other elite groups.”

  “You’re absolutely right,” Chaz agreed.

  It was an admirable attitude, but on the final evening of the last dance, the chaperones closely watched the three students. Because they had banded together over the Alec Winters incident, all the faculty members kept an eye on them. One in particular chaffed as she watched Sabrina, Chaz, and Danaé have a good time. She was aggravated that the other students didn’t mind that they were there.

  “I can’t stand this,” Mrs. Anders announced as she glanced at her husband, a math teacher at the high school. “They have no right to be here.”

  Before Mr. Anders could comment or object, his wife rushed over to the three seniors just as a song ended. Danaé coldly looked at the woman, and before the chaperone could express her objections to their presence, she said, “Why Mrs. Anders, I would think you have more to worry about than our being at the last senior dance of the year. If you paid more attention to your own affairs, and less interest in being a busybody, you might’ve noticed how close Mr. Anders stands beside Miss Jones, the new English teacher…Or, didn’t you know?”

  Sabrina, Chaz, Danaé, and Mrs. Anders all turned to look at Mr. Anders just as his hand gently brushed the hand of Miss Jones and they exchanged a smile. That effectively sent Mrs. Anders back to her husband’s side, allowing the trio to enjoy the remainder of the event without further interruptions.

  At the end of the year, Chaz and Sabrina were tied for the highest level of academic honors presented at graduation ceremonies. However, due to teacher, staff, and school board recommendations, they were denied their rightful honors as co-valedictorians.

  “It’s for your own safety,” Principal Evans explained. “Many here are still upset that you supported the Winters boy. We don’t want a riot on our hands.”

  “That’s not fair,” Chaz and Sabrina objected in unison.

  “No, it isn’t fair or right, but it’s what has to happen to keep everyone safe and calm. We can’t have the two of you give a speech in front of a mob. That would only be asking for serious trouble.” Evans was adamant.

  Even so, when receiving special recognition along with Danaé, for magna cum laude, ‘boos and jeers’ followed them across the stage as they were about to receive their diplomas. Someone threw a few rotten eggs that cracked on the platform, making a nasty, smelly mess. Sabrina and Chaz had turned white with embarrassment. They were horrified at the school’s reaction and tempted to turn back. Even though they had experienced strong opposition regularly at school, they had never considered that the student body’s hostility would be so severe at the final ceremony. They worried what their parents’ thought as they witnessed such intense aggression and anger toward their children.

  Danaé, sensing her friends desire to leave before things got any worse, put her arms around Chaz and Sabrina to help them finish the walk to the podium. “Remember,” she reminded, “the majority is with us. Don’t let the few ruin this moment.” Glaring at the audience, with only a look that Danaé could manage, they ‘walked the plank’ together to where Principal Evans waited with their certificates.

  “Now, aren’t you glad you didn’t have to stand in front of this crowd for ten or twenty minutes while you gave the valedictorian address?” the principal said as he covered the microphone. Then, with a shrug, he shook each of their hands and quietly offered his congratulations.

  Chapter 21

  In the meantime, Alec’s army career had begun with ten weeks of basic training at Fort Knox in Louisville, Kentucky. He not only passed, but also excelled at everything thrown at him during the grueling training. While others groaned and complained, he kept his head down and concentrated on the finish line. Life in New Orleans was only a distant memory as he worked hard to dispel the suspicions and gossip that had been synonymous with his name back home. Army life was the fresh start he craved and he took full advantage of it.

  “You’ve got a medical aptitude, boy!” Sergeant Willis announced at the end of the first obstacle course known as boot camp. “Seems like the army wants you trained at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. Your orders are for a ten-month Special Operations Combat Medic Course. You leave in two days. Let’s see how well you do there!”

  By the time Alec had c
ompleted his medic training, Sabrina, Chaz, and Danaé were on a private senior trip to the Grand Bahamas. After witnessing the outlandish abuse at the graduation ceremony, the Lamberts paid for Chaz and his two friends to enjoy a couple of weeks away from the city at their timeshare. It was the last occasion that the trio would be together because Danaé left right after that for Rhode Island.

  Alec was fully qualified to offer medical treatment to wounded soldiers. He accompanied army units during training and deployments to provide initial emergency medical care and to assist physicians on the battlefield or in military installations. Although he was technically a field medic, and received the Combat Medical Badge for saving lives during live action, Alec proved himself through bravery. He ran into the gunfire to rescue injured soldiers. His courage served him and his wounded comrades very well.

  “Who’s your best medic?” Chief Warrant Officer-4 Joey Atwood asked.

  “That’d be Alec Winters over there,” Sergeant Jones pointed.

  “He’s your best medic, but is he any good with weapons? Is he fearless?” Atwood briskly questioned.

  “You wouldn’t believe it if I told you. Every army unit wants him on their team. He has a way about him that makes being deployed feel safe. Take a look at him yourself…You can’t miss him. He’s the one with the brightest blue eyes you’ll ever see. Some of the soldiers even call him ‘angel eyes.’ They openly admit that miracles happen when he’s around.”

  “He sounds like the man I need,” Atwood replied. After several long moments of looking over Alec and reviewing his records, Atwood boisterously proclaimed, “I like him. I want him on my team.”