Broken

  I did as I was told. My heart started pumping again. I felt the color coming back in my cheeks. She had broken out somehow. Aiyana had chewed through the cage and the barbed wire. She was beaten but no longer in his mercy. Now she was trapped again. I had to get her out somehow. I had to plan her escape before they discovered what or who she really was.

  Chapter 34

  The news of the mistreated jaguar who had taken fate into her own hand and broken out from her captivity, travelled fast all around the world and when I arrived in Jacksonville I could get nowhere near the entrance to the zoo. Cars were parked on the sidewalks; people were walking everywhere taking pictures, standing in line, swarming the main entrance. I was caught in a line of cars. I sighed deeply. I had no way of getting to Aiyana around this many people. I should be lucky to even get near the cave.

  I sighed deeply and drove past the zoo, away from the people milling around, away from the long lines of cars waiting to find a parking spot. I stopped at a gas station and filled it up. I felt desperate. How was I going to get to her? She needed my help more than ever. I was the only one who knew who she was and what she was during the day. She had to feel so scared right now. Afraid that someone would see her, find her in that cave. Scared that the other jaguars would attack her, scared about Luyu and where she was right now and who was taking care of her. Aiyana had to feel so desolate, so alone.

  I stared at some children with their mother walking from the car to the store while the father put gas on the car. They were pleading with her to buy them a toy.

  "No," she kept saying. "Not today."

  I exhaled and thought about William. I missed having ordinary, small everyday problems. Like irritating kids wanting toys or candy. I wanted so badly to give him a normal upbringing where he didn't have to worry about anything. It killed me that William had to fight big issues like this at this young an age. It just wasn't fair.

  I followed the mother with my eyes as she entered the store flanked by her three children screaming and pulling each other's hair. A few minutes later she came out. The kids each had a toy in their hand. They were thrilled and happy. She looked annoyed and sighed as she helped them get back into the car. She had no idea how easy her life was, I thought to myself. At least she was with the ones she loved. After all that was really the only thing that could fulfill you in this life, wasn't it? To be close to those you love?

  That was when it hit me. Right there at the gas-station while the couple drove away fighting about her giving in to the kids again.

  I knew where Heather was. Of course I did. Why hadn't I thought about that before? I knew how to find her.

  But it had to wait.

  I rented a room at a local Motel 6 in Jacksonville and checked in. I called Morgan the private investigator from the room.

  "Did you find her yet?" I asked.

  "Not yet. She hasn't been to school for days. I found her father, though. I followed him from his work to this house where he apparently had a wild jaguar hidden in some cage. Can you believe that? It broke out. It attacked him that night. I heard the noise and called the police. Since then he has been in the hospital while I have tried to locate the girl. But as I said, the school says they haven't seen her in several days."

  "Have you checked at his sister's house?"

  "Yes. She is not there either."

  "Okay," I sighed. "Keep searching."

  After I had hung up I tried to watch TV as I waited but couldn't concentrate. Instead I walked the room like a lion in a cage constantly dragging the thick curtain aside to gaze out the big window to see if the sunset was any nearer than it had been five minutes ago. It was a troublesome wait. I was constantly weary, feeling worried about her in the cave at the zoo.

  I waited till the sun had set and I had changed. Then I slid soundlessly out the door to my room and padded along the corridors of the motel avoiding the rooms that had light in their windows and where I heard voices. I jumped a rail and then the roof where I knew I could walk unseen because very few people looked at the roof of a building and since I was black I blended in with the darkness. My eyes glowed in front of me as I jumped from one building to another, climbed rails and drainpipes to get up. I found trees and used their branches to help me get forward and soon I was at the entrance of the Jacksonville Zoo.

  I jumped up on the wall as easily as if were just another tree. Then I balanced along it for a while till I spotted the exhibit area where they kept the jaguars. I had found a brochure at the lobby of the motel and read it closely. The Jacksonville Zoo had had jaguars since 1958. They were all placed in the same caved area. Since jaguars were solitary animals they each had their own cave. It gave me hope that Aiyana was left alone by the other jaguars during the day. I disturbed the lions when I passed their area and they threw a threatening roar at me. Some birds in a cage were scared by my presence and started scattering, flapping their wings crazily.

  I had no plan. I had no idea how I was going to pull this off, how I was supposed to get Aiyana out. But I was going to try. I found the jaguars and called for her with my roar hoping she would recognize it and come out. I couldn't go in there since I wouldn't be able to get out again if I did. So she needed to realize that it was me and I was here to get her out. I had no idea if it would work.

  But it did. I only had to call for her a few times before she stuck her face out. Her beautiful eyes glowed in the darkness of the cave. Those yellow bright stars that I loved so dearly for many years. But she didn't come out. She stopped there. In her eyes were hurt and pain. I understood that she was too wounded to even walk. Her eyes showed agony.

  I never even thought about it once. I just jumped the fence and clung on to it, struggling to pull my body to the top of it. It ripped me as I dragged my body over the top and left a bleeding wound on my stomach. I moaned as I landed on my paws. I spotted Aiyana's eyes looking at me from the darkness of the cave. Then I ran to her, disregarding my pain. I stopped in front of her and looked into her bright glowing eyes. She was lying down. Her wounds had been cleaned and the blood washed away but you could still see where she had been beaten and where the barbed wire had ripped her fur and skin. She lowered her head. I came closer and rubbed my head at hers. I lay down beside her and stared at the fence that I had climbed from the other side. There was no way I would be able to climb it again from this side of it. There was no way for us to escape. We were both in captivity.

  We stayed together in the cave all night. The zookeepers had thrown lumps of meat in there for her to eat and she shared it with me. She didn't eat much. I tried to push meat in her direction with my snout but she barely ate any of it. I stayed close to her rubbing my snout and face at her neck trying to make her feel better, trying to comfort her.

  When the ray of lights started to rise over the zoo we started to change as well. I looked at her; she looked at me as our bodies slowly changed back. I gasped when I realized just how badly she had been hurt. Her body was covered in bruises from being whipped and beaten with a long stick of some sort. Her face was scratched from the barbed wire. One hand was broken and her leg had deep wounds from being caught in the barbed wire while she fought her way out of the cage.

  I held back my tears as I gently touched her cheek and wiped away a small tear that had escaped the corner of her eye. She tried to stand but couldn't. She was weak from starvation and pain in her leg. I realized she needed help right away. Even if her blood was stronger than normal humans this was too much for her. The transformation had drained the last strength out of her. I had to act fast. I grabbed her in my arms and carried her out of the cave. She was drifting in and out of conscience now. I had no bigger plan. Only this. Me and her. Naked in the jaguar area. When the zookeepers arrived they found us like that. Me standing with Aiyana in my arms, both of us hurt, naked, unprotected, exposed.

  Aiyana was holding her arms around my neck. She felt light as a feather.

  "Call 911," I screamed at the top of my lungs.

  So
on the zoo was filled with men and women in uniform, blinking lights and sirens. In a sort of strange understanding neither Aiyana nor I spoke a word to them. They covered us up and put us in the ambulance together, trying to ask us questions that we never answered. We just stared into each other's eyes feeling the deep love we shared for so many years now. I held her hand in the ambulance while smiling slightly assuring her with my thoughts that everything was going to be fine. She was barely breathing, the monitor showed a low pulse and slow heartbeat. I was scared. I wanted to scream. Everything inside of me already did.

  Please God. Please God or spirits or whoever you are. Don't take her away from me. Don't let her die.

  Chapter 35

  Nurses came and took her away from me when we arrived at The Memorial Hospital in Jacksonville. They rolled her down the hallway. She was barely conscious. I was asked to wait, so that's what I did. Another nurse brought me some hospital clothes that I put on.

  Then the unbearable waiting for news followed until the doctor suddenly stood in front of me. We shook hands and I realized that I had known him at med school. He had graduated the year before I did.

  "How is she, Doctor?" I said.

  "Weak, but strong as hell," he said and then asked me to pardon his French. "But I have never seen anything like this. You'll have to excuse me, but I am still a little shocked. She was barely alive when you brought her here and I have to admit I didn't think she had much chance of surviving, but somehow, almost without us doing anything she came back to us. I swear I was sure that we had lost her for a second or two. All the monitors stopped and there was no brain activity and her heart had stopped beating. We did cardiac resuscitation- you know the drill - but there was nothing. She was gone. But then she returned. I’ve never seen anything like it in my career. Normally I know when a patient is gone. Hell I had already told the nurse the time of death. Then suddenly out of the blue everything started beeping again. The heart monitor, everything. And I turned and saw she was breathing. It was like she was sent back from the other side. Gave us quite a scare there."

  "It wasn't her turn yet," I mumbled and remembered my vision. If I believed in my own abilities to predict certain events in the future then it wasn't her turn yet. This wasn't how it was going to go down. I also remembered when her grandmother had died. Aiyana had told me that in her tribe they didn't die from growing old or from normal diseases, they went when they were done on this earth. They each had a time to go and they would know it in advance.

  I sighed and sat heavily in a chair. "When can I see her?" I asked.

  "Well as insane as this may sound, she seems fine now. She is still weak and her wounds need to heal but you could take her home right away if you want to. She'll need a lot of rest in the coming days and no wild or extraordinary activities."

  I nodded. "I promise. I'll bring her to my house and take care of her."

  The doctor sighed deeply. "You know I have to ask this, but how on earth did she end up in this condition?"

  "Her husband."

  The doctor nodded. "No need to say no more. I see enough of these cases every day. I'll tell that to the police when they get here. I'll make sure they keep off your back. I know the local sheriff. He hates wife-beaters as much as I do."

  I looked at him with astonishment. "Thank you!"

  He patted me on my back. "Well we doctors need to help each other right?" He looked at my stomach. "You should have something done about that as well," he said.

  That's when I realized that I was bleeding from my wound from climbing the fence. The blood had colored the hospital gown. I felt it and got blood on my fingers.

  "I'll have someone take a quick look at it and then you'll be out of here before the police arrive," he said and got up from his chair.

  I said goodbye with a heartfelt hug.

  A couple of hours later I carried Aiyana out of the cab and through the front door. Sarah came running towards us from the stairs. "What happened?” she asked and came closer.

  "I need to get her to a bed," I said.

  "I just put new sheets in the guest bedroom downstairs. You can put her in there."

  I followed Sarah. She held the door for me and I put Aiyana on the bed. She smiled gently and stroked my cheek as I put her under the covers. Then she looked serious. "Find Luyu, Christian," she said. "You need to find her for me."

  I nodded earnestly. Then I leaned over and kissed her forehead. "I'll find her. Don't worry. Get some rest. You need it."

  I love you.

  I love you too.

  Her eyes closed slowly and I let go of her hand. The sight of her sleeping so peacefully filled me with joy and hope. I didn't want to have to leave her again; I wanted to stay by her side while she was sleeping, until she woke up and opened those beautiful eyes again.

  I opened the door and walked out into the hall. I closed the door behind me and as I did I saw William standing in front of me.

  "William," I said. "You startled me."

  His expression was serious. Then he spoke: "I know where she is," he said.

  "What? You know where who is?"

  "Luyu. I know where she is."

  "But ... how ... did you just listen to ... How did you know?"

  "I dreamt it. Last night. She was crying. She wanted me to help her."

  I was speechless. I kneeled in front of him and took both of his hands in mine. Knowing the women in Aiyana's family I knew this could very well be Luyu trying to reach out to us, trying to guide me to her. "Then you must tell me right away. There is no time to waste. Tell me what you know."

  "She is in a small room. There is wood on the walls surrounding her."

  "Okay. Wooden walls. What else?" My voice was shaking.

  "It's moving," he said.

  "What's moving?"

  "The room."

  "The room is moving? I don't understand, William. Could you explain it to me? What is it that is moving?"

  "It's rocking. The room is rocking. There are no windows. She can't see anything. It's dark. There is no light. She doesn't know if it is day or night. She is scared. She cries a lot."

  I went over the information in my head, trying desperately to decipher them. A rocking room with no lights and wood on the walls. "Wait how do you know that there is wood on the walls if it's dark all the time?" I asked.

  "Because she knocks on it all the time. She is trying to let people know where she is. So she knocks on the wood. But no one can hear her."

  "Can she hear them?" I asked.

  William closed his eyes. "Yes. She can hear voices. Men talking and laughing. They are not very far away."

  "But not close enough to hear her knock." I thought desperately, went over the information again and again.

  "A boat," I said.

  William opened his eyes.

  "A boat rocks," I almost yelled. "A boat has wooden walls and small dark rooms with no windows. Is that it? Is she on a boat somewhere?"

  I didn't wait for his answer. I picked him up and ran towards the kitchen. Sarah had already put out new clothes that I put on.

  "I'll take care of the patient while you're gone," she said.

  I leaned over and kissed her cheek. Then we stormed out the door and jumped into my car and drove off.

  Chapter 36

  They were talking about us on the radio in the car. The jaguar had disappeared mysteriously from the zoo during the night, they said. No one knew how that could have happened.

  "Apparently the jaguar broke out of the zoo this morning somehow," the speaker said. "I just spoke to the officials and they say they have absolutely no idea how this could happen. The cage was secured and locked and still is. There is no sign that the jaguar should have escaped somehow other than the fact that they can't find it. They went in to find it for the first time. The plan was to tranquilize it and then look at its wounds to see if it was healing fine or if it needed further treatment. But then it was gone. The cave was empty. And it wasn't in any of the other cav
es either. It was like it had vanished, the official said. The jaguar is now on the loose and people are encouraged not to try and catch it themselves. It is considered extremely dangerous and if you see it then you are allowed to shoot it on the spot to stop it from causing any more trouble." The speaker paused before he continued. "On a more fun note the zookeepers made another found this morning. Two naked people had apparently climbed the fence and were found inside the jaguar environment actually the exact same spot where the new jaguar disappeared from. The officials called it 'very strange' but assured us that they do not think these two people had anything to do with the disappearance of the jaguar. They believe it was some sort of sex-game that might have gone wrong and the police say they are not going to do more about it. 'We have more important matters to focus on than interlopers at the zoo,' Sheriff Woodland told the News."

  I turned off the radio and looked in the rear-view mirror. William was staring at me with big blue serious eyes. I looked away.

  There were several marinas in St. Augustine where he could have hidden her on any of the boats. But I knew that Michael had worked on some of the very wealthy people's boats lying on the marina by The Bridge of Lions leading towards the barrier island. Michael had boasted about it during the dinner at his house. It was a long shot but it was my only shot. So I drove to the bridge and down to the small marina. I parked the car and got out. William followed me. Then I sighed. The sight of hundreds of boats by the docks filled me yet again with despair.

  I grabbed William by the hand. Then I kneeled in front of him. "We are going to go down there now," I said. "We will go to each and every boat and listen to hear if we can hear her. Try and look around, see if there is anything you can recognize from your dream. Anything at all. It can be a robe, or a bag, or a fishing pole, a bucket or anything. All right?"

  He nodded still with that serious look in his eyes.

  "Okay. Let's get to work."