The Amulet- part V

Silence. No movement but that of the shadows cast by the flickering luminescence of the stone.

" Purity!," the murderer said, "How could your parents have named you that? Your pitiful existence would never have come to being if not for the lustful lack of restraint exhibited by your 'dad.' I suppose it was the wishful thinking of a most desperate man looking down on the angelic face of his newborn daughter, or, perhaps a plea to God to forgive his throwing away of his religious upbringing."

He looked over at his love. It had been quite some time since he had heard her name voiced by something other than his broken heart. His eyes stayed on her as the murderer continued.

" And just look at you, Mr. Anderson."

His gaze turned to the murderer, at first confused, not recognizing his own name, then blasting realization floods his face, giving rise to another round of ear-splitting laughter from the stone.

Mr Anderson dropped to his knees like his intestines had been torn from his body, his eyes never leaving the resonating, murderous rock.

Paul Anderson, my name is Paul Anderson.

" Yes, it is." the murderer replied, enjoying another burst of laughter. "You are Paul Anderson. She is Purity Bedoon. And, this is your reality!"

With this the walls of their prison became apparent, then transparent. The couple looked out at the sign on a passing bus, something about fast relief, and swooned at the speed of the people walking past them. It was a 360 degree panorama of the bus stop where she had found him.

Everything was perfectly clear except for where the angles met. Their clear prison was made up of several huge geometric shapes of regular but varying sizes, some fractal in design, but all comprising the dome that sealed in their world. What they were looking at was someone, obviously very poor, trying to trade the very amulet they were in.

" Watch this, " the great liar said, "this is what could have happened to you!"

Then, as if she had been waiting for her cue, a young lady approached the destitute man and touched the stone he had been trying to sell. When she did, sparks erupted from the boulder and shot upward in shades of brilliant blue. They flew through the outer rim as easily as if it was not there and surrounded the two. Their bodies were consumed by them and disappeared from their sight, re-appearing a few yards away, as youthful and vigorous as Paul and Purity themselves. The two couples had a brief moment to stare at each other before the sparks returned, this time as crimson as blood and as hot as a volcano. The newcomers screamed and writhed as the love they had dreamed of was torn from them, their bodies separating and melting from the heat of hell itself, drawn to eternity through a flaming chasm, a window, that had opened  in the ground between them and the boulder. The last Paul and Purity saw of them was a glimpse of their damned and wretched faces as the window closed.

They held onto each other. Neither noticed that the murderer, the liar, the stealer of souls and dreams, had now taken on human form. He was dressed in a well fitting suit, made from cloth that no one on earth had ever seen.

Purity knew him.

He had not only killed the corporal, the man assigned to train Paul to be a cop, but had also destroyed her baby. She was 15 years old and 4 months along when this ruiner had made a deal with her.

" Give me the baby and your father will never know."

" Will Paul be spared?"

He simply lowered his head, as if looking over glasses that were not there, and grinned.

" Will Paul be spared!," she shouted, feeling a massive cramp in her abdomen that nearly brought her to her knees.

" Yes, yes, that is the deal, if we have a deal."

Purity lowered her head, trying so hard to find another way.

" There is no other way," the great liar said, "and you know it. Give me the child ..."

Purity slowly nodded her head. It was bloodless, and over, in less than a minute.

The child tried to cry when the air flushed through his lungs, but he would not be spared- he was just halfway through getting ready for life in the outside world when he was taken.

The murderer chuckled as Purity slipped into a coma.

" Yes! I remember that! Good times, eh Purity?"