Baby Of The Dead

Chapter 6

        Jacob's Bungalow. 

~Iseult~

"How are you holding up?"

Devin asked, staring at her across the room. She was seated opposite him on another sofa. He had come to pay a visit to her. He was just a neighbor next door. A neighbor who was always indoor with an unknown identity. But what he didn't hide was his admiration for Iseult, and she knew that too. 

He had learnt to keep his distance from her when Jacob was alive, but now that he's dead, he probably would shoot his shot. But not today. Not four days after the horrific death of her husband. All he could do was sit with her there and help her through the grief. And that was what he was doing at the moment. 

He was 6"1, broad shoulders, great proportion, firm, handsome, manly face. Well kept beards, not full, not too low, but low; a complement of his full lips. 

She sighed looking up at him. Her fingers had been her play toy ever since he arrived. 

"It's like a dream, Devin. Most time I wish I would wake up from the nightmare but when I sleep at night and turn in bed in the morning to the greeting rays of the sunlight, it was just another nature prank."

A gentle smile paced across his face,

"When I lost my girlfriend, few days to our nuptials too, it was as though I was in a simulation. Like I was deranged and needed to see a doctor or probably seeing things I didn't want to see. But it was just right there in front me."

"Oh... I'm very sorry, Devin. So, sorry."

Empathy was her thing. She knew too well how to use that tool. Well not for charade, twas just a great part of her. A part she couldn't cast off. A part which had tied her to Jacob even when he abused her nonstop. 

"Oh, come on. It's like five years ago. Yours is pretty recent. I should be consoling you not the other way round."

She breathed heavily, a heavy breath. 

"Many say, and I'm beginning to see... that I shouldn't be sad. That it probably was the intervention of God to save me from constant assault. And I guess they were right. But I just can't help crying... I loved him. I loved Jacob so much."

Her voice was beginning to break, tears wielding,

"Every time he raised his hands against me, I thought of the first few years of our marriage when he wouldn't allow me to work. He would do the chores, wash my clothes, take me on several vacations, buy me anything I said I wanted... How could I forget that part of him just because of the two years' change ever since we arrived Winchester?!"

He stood up and walked over to her place. He couldn't sit on the chair since twas a one-seater. He sat on the arm and ran his arm around her shoulders. He pulled her into his side, she let him. She started crying. 

He consoled,

"No, they are wrong. You were right to love him beyond his flaws. You are right to cry after losing him. Most times, when I hear the noise of struggle between the both of you, I was always tempted to come over and break his head. But, I noticed that whenever you said, 'This is not you, Jacob. I know it's not', he would stop suddenly."

She looked up at him,

"Iseult, he loves you too. Maybe there was something going on that he couldn't share with you and he confided in being an insolent Chihuahua instead. It's been said that bad friends corrupt good manners. And a philosopher said, absolute power corrupts absolutely."

He paused, looking down, at her wet eyes,

"I promise to dig into whatever happened. If there was something he was hiding, you'll hear it from me first, before you do from the cops."

She nodded and cleaned her eyes. He stood and walked to the refrigerator. He poured her a glass of water and walked back to her, he handed it to her and she drank. As soon as she finished drinking, he collected the glass and walked back to the refrigerator to put it back. She just watched him. 

He returned and retired into his former position. He spoke before she could,

"What did the cops say about the wierd death?"

She sighed, looking away,

"They are not sure yet. They said there was a similar case in a building under construction few miles away from here."

"The head of the person bursted open too?"

She nodded, continuing,

"And more like it, another man, who happened to be a worker of the same construction site committed a suicide by jumping off the storey building. But wierdly, of all his body parts, only his head bursted open."

He scoffed,

"Like some Grim reaper coming to collect souls in their long horn?"

She sighed. 

"I don't know what to say. There was something even weirder. A night when I was returning from the hospital after seeing a friend, there was a baby I saw crawling into the express road. And a truck was on a high velocity. I got there too late."

He flinched,

"The baby died?"

She chuckled. His eyes tuned,

"Are you pulling my legs?"

She shook her head, fixing the recent mood,

"No, of course not. It happened for real. Just your reaction."

"What happened?"

He dismissed too quickly. 

"Somehow the truck crumbled and was destroyed. But neither the baby nor the truck driver was found."

"Oh, I saw that from the news. About an unusual accident."

She nodded. She looked rather confused now. 

"What's the matter?"

"I don't know. That same baby, I saw it at my doorstep the morning of Jacob's death. But when I returned home, I found Jacob's corpse but not the baby."

She looked thoughtful as she added,

"I have a feeling that someone or something is after the innocent baby?"

He thought for a while,

"What if it's the other way round?"

She moved suddenly in the chair,

"Devin! Come on, don't be ridiculous. How could a baby even do such a thing? Let alone a cute little pie like that one? Oh my world, if you see it, your heart will melt."

He chuckled, staring continuously and wierdly at her,

"What?"

She argued as soon as she noticed the heat of his stare on her face. He shook his head,

"Nothing. It makes me happy, seeing you happy. If you don't mind, someday, I'd love to take you somewhere. Somewhere that'll help with the mood."

She blushed, but did well to hide it,

"I'll think about it."

Then suddenly, there came the honking of a car at the front of her Bungalow. 

"Is that at the front of yours?"

She asked him. He shot her a mocking stare,

"Come on... do you even have ears?"

She chuckled and stood up. They both walked towards the door. He got the door,

"Evelyn!"

She screamed as soon as she saw her sister, the handle of a suitcase in Evelyn's other hand.

She hurried to her and hugged her warmly. 

"Awwn... my baby is fully grown."

Evelyn shook herself free,

"Don't press life out of me."

She chuckled instead as Devin stepped forward. 

"Devin, meet my witch sister, Evelyn. The only person who finds fault in everything I do. I'm really touched she came to see how I'm doing."

Evelyn sneered at her, looking away to Devin who had his firm right arm stretched. Evelyn took his hand in her small one, as Devin's thick texture of the British accent swept in,

"Evelyn, I guess your sister is only jealous because you're more beautiful."

Evelyn gave her toothed smile, a very beautiful one. 

"Hear that?"

She rolled her eyes at Iseult and headed towards the door. She called,

"If you'd gotten a sweeter husband like him, we won't have been on the left foot. But no, you'd go for Shit-cob."

"You don't speak ill of the dead."

Iseult followed her in close proximity as Evelyn got the door. 

Devin only stood there, chuckling. As he watched them enter. 

Then suddenly, he heard a movement in the cluster of fully grown flowers across the next compound. 

It seemed like he saw a baby. He looked closer, but nothing came. He ignored and followed the cat and rat.