THE END OF THE WORLD IS IGNITED

Andre was not one to violate the code of rules, he insisted that he would wait by the fountain, and he was angry that Mother Superior Adelaide had not been at the water fountain as planned, which was why he had blown his horn, if she wanted showmanship she would get it, “Mother Superior Adelaide” cries nervous Nun Cornelia, “Mother Superior Adelaide it is a man, he refuses to say his name, he says you already know it,” Cornelia utters these last words with a mightier tone as if to say again, “he says you already know him,” Cornelia pauses again as if to figure out the possible implications, “mother superior already knows him,” but before her thoughtless brain can begin to manufacture the logic algorithms required to develop gossip material, Mother Superior brusquely passes by her, easily jolting Nun Cornelia’s aura; this has an immediate effect, Cornelia does not really know why she is still standing there, she looks at her watch, “Jesus it is 215am!” Nun Cornelia realizes her watch duty was over at 2am and goes to get some sleep.

The round water fountain has not been maintained for years, it has algae everywhere, the water is green, the pump still recycles the water, spiraling up and down from beginning to end via rusting tubes, and hiccups copper water and whatever is let through a grudging cement orifice. The nuns regularly bring buckets of water so as to compensate for those aberrant water children that evaporate or simply overthrow themselves into the surrounding growth as they attempt to keep the weeds and selfless yellow flowers green. Andre is leaning into the metallic hunk that is his red roadster. He looks up and sees Mother Superior approaching, she is doing a very precise and rapid stern walk, her hands covered by her tunic, she does not take her eyes away from his, only the serene night seduces their mutual stare.

Antoinette is approaching the convent, Loki has made it onto her lap, he is acting strange, he is calling for her attention, attempting to climb to her shoulder, he is flexing his nails and paws as if trying to sink them into her but not, Antoinette attempts to ignore his restlessness, she is wondering what she is going to say to Lauren when she sees her, she is aware that Lauren is not in a sound mental condition. Loki cat continues to attempt to grab Antoinette’s attention, she pulls over, the nails on her neck mandated, it was as if Loki were saying, “pull over lady pull over or your neck will be lacerated by these here rat killer blades…” but Loki wasn’t saying that at all, Antoinette thought he might be car sick, so she pulled over and opened the door so Loki could breathe normal air and vomit or shit as she suspected he needed to. But Loki did not attempt to get out, instead he used the opportunity to destroy Antoinette’s dress while climbing to her shoulder and nestling his head within her hair, once there he started purring, purring, his nose was very wet, she felt the moisture from it, Antoinette looked at her watch, but really didn’t read the time, she caught herself thinking that Loki was sick and needed her, and she said to him, in the most giving way with her barely audible voice, “Loki you are more important to me right now than anything else, you’re the only one that matters, I will take care of you…” those reassuring words seemed to alter nothing within Loki, this was because Loki had already given himself completely to her. So there they were, both on the side of the road, he kissing her neck with a wet nose and urging his paws into her flesh, and she caressing him, trying to put him more within her and then Antoinette realized that Loki was telling her something, that he was transferring something, Loki after all had a direct hot live connection to the Akashic record, and his purring was just transferring awareness of something, Antoinette felt it, she did not intellectualize it, she just felt Loki telling her things, and she was subconsciously aware that the only way to get it all out of him was by corresponding his love, by hugging him more, and the purring did intensify as she caressed him, and told him how much she loved him, and Antoinette felt the universe touch her, and she now really did not care about Lauren or the convent nor anything else for that matter, she had her Loki with her, that kind of nullified everyone else.

Loki made Antoinette aware of the Akashic record, Antoinette was never herself looking for such a thing, she did not even know it existed, she was so mystical she wasn’t mystical, she had the amazing ability to be in touch with her emotions so much that she did not need knowledge or information to get through life, she just intuitively guided herself, in some ways, Antoinette had what she needed from the Akashic record already within her, but what Loki had given her was an insight into why the convergence was centering on the convent, and why they were connected to the 7th Century BC. Antoinette saw in her minds eye, a statue, she saw the end of the world, which interestingly did not seem as cataclysmic to her as it might otherwise seem to you and I; and finally, finally she saw three monks running away. Her minds eye had felt Loki rather well, she continued to hug him, and then felt that maybe they should proceed to the convent. Loki seemed in agreement, however he insisted in staying on her lap and Antoinette didn’t want to resist. They drove on.

Apparently there had been some form of separation between Andre and the Mother Superior because when Antoinette’s headlights struck the two of them by the fountain, Mother Superior was handing the statue covered in silk blessings to Andre. Antoinette did not know what to make of that image that had just come into view of her lights, a nun handing something to a man, from the dashboard watch it was five minutes to 3am, Antoinette did not turn off the car but merely pulled right up to them, and got out. Andre panicked and swiftly ripped the statue from Mother Superior Adelaide’s grasp, she almost fell, he rushed it into his trunk where more padding afforded rest for this ageless statue, and he quickly roared the car to life and edged a fast reverse and then a faster dusting squealing forward, only as he was exiting another car was embarked on a speeding entrance, and well they collided into each other, both drivers hitting the breaks with less optimal force than they had before accelerated, and Loki cat heard this riveting separating kinetic jugs of maladjustment colliding energy barriers, and squashing metallic songs of twisted maledictions, stuck his leg up in the air and started cleaning himself.

The Pimp got out of the car, he did not even bother to apologize for the rude entrance, Andre was all juzzled and muzzled by the shock, his roadster had less protection the Habakkuk’s crash proof Volvo, and besides, Andre did not wear a seatbelt, Habakkuk did, Habakkuk had never wanted to die in this life, he considered it unworthy of his death energy, he just didn’t want to die here, Habakkuk did not pause, he went over to the driver’s side of the roadster, and through the window saw Andre bleeding from head wounds. Habakkuk picked up a rock, Mother Superior Adelaide and Antoinette and Loki all watching, and he broke the remaining goodness the window possessed, and immediately reached for the knob-pulley to uncork the trunk. Andre continued to bleed profusely, and Habakkuk rounded to the back, took out the well wrapped statue, and held it towards the night sky, arms high, “I got it, I got it for you.” It was during this exalting moment that a circle of nuns trounced the poor Pimp, and sat on him at least ten commandments worth of them; the only thing that the squashed man could review was Mother Superior Adelaide holding his precious statue. His lips spoke spitting some resented dirt, “You must give me that statue, I have to return it to its appropriate place, the world will end, the world will end.” And just as he said that, and just before passing out, Habakkuk noticed that Mother Superior Adelaide’s aura was pink, and that it was contaminated by red shoes and five parrots.

Antoinette was sent to the library, there a more composed Mother Superior Adelaide caught, her, offered her some tea, Antoinette accepted it, coldly, Antoinette, remember, had come here to resolve some matters of her own, now she seemed more riddled, and she did not know what to make of these events. Outside the convent walls Andre continued to fill himself with death. Still Mother Superior Adelaide does not seem to be bothered with it, she sits by Antoinette, “Why are you here?” Antoinette not demonstrating any fear, just simply stoically confused, “I came to see Lauren, maybe speak with her if possible, but can you tell me what just happened?” Mother Superior Adelaide paralyzed all her expressions and responded like an American businessman, “Nothing happened, two cars crashed, unfortunately on our premises, we will report it to the appropriate authorities in the morning.” Antoinette, bleeding irreverence, “in the morning! You will report it in the morning! don’t you think that the police should be here now?” Mother Superior did not like strangers, and more she did not like pretty sexy gorgeous women, she hated them, she hated them! “Your name is Antoinette correct?” “Yes but what does that...” “Listen up pretty Antoinette, I surmise you best get on home now, you really aren’t supposed to be here, Lauren’s family doesn’t want anyone to disturb Lauren’s much needed spiritual retreat, we are comforting her here, and if you care for her, then you will leave us alone.” Antoinette caught the “leave “us” alone,” this alerted her to something sinister, she reviewed the room through a careless movement of her head, “I see, you’re probably right, I should let poor Lauren rest, she has been through so much already, let us hope that your administered kindness can put her right.” Mother Superior Adelaide rose her head so that her chin would point slightly upwards, there bearing her frontal neck anatomy, which was still covered by her tunic, as though she was saying to Antoinette, “you cannot strike at me, I am in control, I exposed my venerability to you as a gesture of defiance.” I don’t know if Antoinette felt that, but I sure did, and then Mother Superior Adelaide speaks, “Such a nice cat, good thing nothing bad happened to your cat tonight.” Antoinette, “Where is Loki? Where is my cat?” “Your cat Ms Antoinette,” making a point to note that there wasn’t a wedding ring on her, “your cat is in the kitchen, I told Cornelia to give him some milk, he seemed frazzled by tonight’s events. You can pick him up on your way out.” On your way out now, she meant. “Yes, I think I will go now, thank you so much for the tea.”

Antoinette left her seat, and Mother Superior Adelaide followed her with her eyes, she was admiring her body, she wanted to kiss that body, she was trying to conjure images without clothes, she hated the fact that she could not have that body, feast upon it, she wanted to fuck her, she hated that fact, she thought back to the whore with the red shoes, she felt so dissatisfied by the whole experience, she wanted to kiss Antoinette, she knew that such would never happen, she jerked her body when that little matter registered and ended up spilling some tea on her tunic. Antoinette made it to the door, turned around sensing she was being watched, then flowing herself out the door yielded, and “whack!” blank!

The serene woman’s body plummeted to the ground, Nun Bertha looked on at her, not in a sexual way, Nun Bertha had never had a sexual thought for any living thing, the universe had made sure of that, only one copy of this thing and never again, big fat and ugly, any additional detail is just getting into gore, I am not into that, look up Stephen King if you just want that. Bertha looked at her, twisted her arm to review the frying pan that had struck the head blow, and with an approving nod, “done it, works good.” Then she turned into the library, “Oh Bertha I can always count on you, thanks, thanks indeed, she is nothing but trouble.” “Don’t you worry Mother I will lock her up in the basement, she won’t be bothering you for a while.” “Yes, I guess that is best for now, till we resolve the matters at hand.” Bertha didn’t have much vocabulary, when you saw her turn towards Antoinette you just saw a Mameluke warrior preparing to drag living men to their deaths.

Bertha loaded Antoinette’s languid body on to her shoulder, and hiked it down to the basement. The basement was cold, dank, the floor was made of cobblestone and it seemed a bad river of water run through it, there was only a little light hanging from its own power chord, a little window was strapped of freedom by iron, the basement, yes this was the basement, Bertha unloaded her cargo as if it were a sack of potatoes or a bull’s thigh, the bad river water immediately clung to the dark green dress, and some to her hair, her legs white from veins that were lacking the fervor of Antoinette’s blood flow. Bertha searched for a rope, there was none here, she looked up the black cement staircase and decided she did not want to haul her fat glob up there with her varicose legs to search for a rope, instead, showing signs of ingenuity, she decided to rip Antoinette’s dress, “too pretty anyway she doesn’t need to look like that here,” and used it as a rope, she restrained her hands and arms, and was done with that, leaving Antoinette with just her deep purple underwear which served only to warm anyone watching but not her. The dirty water took a liking to her flesh, and Bertha did not notice none of that, she was busy trying to figure “How do I shut this bitch’s mouth, Lord?” When again the Lord’s answer came in a creative spur sweating out of Bertha’s pock-marked skin, she took her right shoe off, revealing a grimy white sock, and with it, she shut tight Antoinette’s mouth, and left her there, in the dankness.

Mother Superior Adelaide waits for sunlight, meets with the cops, none of the nuns heard the cars crash, nor do they know where the Volvo driver went, Andre is dead, the saintly convent is not a suspect, the cops leave and take the mess with them. Mother Superior Adelaide enters the room, there laying on the bed is Habakkuk, she sits on a wooden chair by his side, she pulls her rosary out of habit, and keeps on rolling over the beads with her antiquated and arthritic fingers, the pain long absconded by Mother Superior Adelaide’s maturity, she did not allow herself to feel pain or to be sick. The rosary ended with the cross and looped back with the cross, she counted beads, she didn’t say prayers, she hadn’t prayed in a long time, she was looking at this man, she sort of knew of him, not through him, but through the Akashic records.

While all that was happening Lauren had gotten away, well sort of.

It was while Mother Superior was talking to the cops, explaining how no one had seen anything, Captain Ogle had personally attended the crime scene, he was short one homicide investigator, didn’t even know where she was at this time, he suspected probably out in the countryside getting some needed rest and time to figure herself out; so while Lauren had been gone for more than forty-eight hours, Ogle didn’t consider her missing, he considered her crazy. As soon as the words, “man dead… Convent of the Holy Mother Maria…” as soon as that was noted in the initial call for police assistance, Captain Ogle, through years of experience knew that he needed to be at the front of that investigation, convents and crimes are a dangerous mix, for if something goes wrong the mayor’s office will firstly blame Ogle and then fire him. These things were delicate, very delicate.

Captain Ogle arrived at the scene with Danny, both of them watching some drizzle from outside their car windows, they came upon the Volvo and the Roadster, two perfect contradictions in car design, the Volvo was designed to protect everything inside the box from the outside world, and the Roadster was designed to make the driver feel everything outside the box, as much as possible. It is then perhaps no contradiction that these opposing design rules were bound to wreck once they met. Neither Danny nor Ogle bothered to check in at the convent’s door, they simply went straight for the metallic collage, and looked at Andre with as much impact as he was looking at them, none. This was just another dead man in an endless list of dead men. Captain Ogle believed that death was so much a part of life that he even had a secret deal with himself, “I will die in the line of duty.” Yes, captain Ogle believed that the only honorable death for a cop has to be in the line of duty. He believed this with all his heart, in part the reason why he did not much care for his wives and children, he was a man with a bullet waiting to happen to him. Who would fire it, he did not know, how and when, tampoco, but he knew, he knew that for him, any other death would be insufficient, it would fail his cause.

Danny looked at Andre’s bleeding amber with no further commentary than an empty “poor chap” and “this was no accident.” Danny knew that this was no accident, he looked at the tire marks, he looked at the entrance and exit possibilities, and he calculated that neither car would have made it in a side by side entrance, he also concluded, and rather quickly that the death car rally had been initiated by the Roadster because Volvo types aren’t fun loving people, they are more likely to be preventive and paranoid. Yes, Danny thought these two had some common aim, and that common aim was so closely knit that they met in precisely the same point, space and time because of it. And therefore there was more to it all than that. Further, Danny surmised that the nuns, however dutifully asleep could not have maintained their dream states from the sounds which the two masses permeated when they collided. Besides, certainly the dogs would have barked at the nuisance.

But Danny did not say any of these things to the captain, instead he said, “Will have to get some body parts to the lab to see the time of death and causes.” This was the only thing that Danny would say to the captain because his protocol was just that, I am here as a doctor, these detective guys are the ones that have to figure out what is wrong with those living and I have to figure out what is wrong with the dead. Danny didn’t have the patience for detectives who tried to tell him what the cause of death was, and Danny had all the patience in the world to watch detectives make mistake after mistake even as he already could have every clue to the crime in his head. Why was he like this? I don’t know, but if I had to guess, and it irritates me to think that he could know facts about a crime and not point them out, but when I think of why he might act in such a way, it calms me; I believe it’s because Danny doesn’t believe that cause and effect are necessarily the best factors to judge results by. In some philosophical quandary for you and I Danny purports to believe that cause and effect are merely side effects and not cruxes to axiomatic conclusions. In Danny’s world perhaps it was the impossible that had more to do with the crime. Many times he would tell Lauren, “Sure Lauren, if that is how you see it, it could have been like that.” Lauren, who loved Danny’s incessantly wonderful personality, did her best not to laugh, but something in that phrase made her laugh, “Sure Lauren, if that is how you see it, it could have been that way.” Of course Lauren always thought that she had the facts, the evidence, and to a large degree that was why she was an excellent cop.

As Danny continued to play with Andre’s body, and then went back to the car with his samples, Mother Superior Adelaide was forced to look at Andre’s crustily bloodied mangled head. “Mother Superior do you recognize this man?” Mother Superior Adelaide cringing tears, “no, no, dear god bless his soul, how could this happen to such a young man, his mother, I must help his mother.” Ogle eyes her with kindness, he doesn’t think that a nun can kill a person, yes he is an experienced cop, but he is more likely to think that a Chicano or even a Black man like himself is more likely to kill than a nun, it is an institutional belief, and it seems to work and Captain Ogle is not aware of it as such, he just thinks that it is unlikely that Mother Superior Adelaide is a murderer or has a reason to lie to him, hence probably why there are so few Mother Superiors in jail today. Much to the benefit of dead Andre, the Mother Superior begins to pray and, with such intermediary, god starts to listen; which is probably why Captain Ogle takes note of the rock inside of the car, practically on Andre’s lap. He looks cockeyed at Mother Superior, and remarks, “How do you suppose that rock got there?” Carelessly, Mother Superior stops praying for Andre, “Good question Captain Ogle, perhaps he was carrying it with him, some people have pet rocks you know.” Ogle smiles at her final remarks, “I don’t think it was his pet rock, see how the glass has caved in and shattered towards the inside of the compartment. Initially his head must have smashed into the driver’s window, which could explain his head wounds, but that would have pushed the glass outwards, and…” as he is looking inside of the car he notices that the trunk pulley has been, well, pulled; and he walks to the back of the car, to find a partially open trunk, inside padding with obviously something missing; “there was something in this trunk, it has been taken,…” he points throughout as if explaining to Mother Superior Adelaide but not necessarily, maybe just to see what her reactions are, maybe just to begin to convince himself that this is a real crime scene and not just another hapless car accident. “It would seem someone wanted what this man had in the trunk, it seems there might be a cause for murder here.” Mother Superior Adelaide blesses herself thrice, clasping her hands together, “please god not in your sacred house, not here, god may these maledictions not be occurring in your house lord, we, your servants would never allow it.” Proclaiming this loudly enough and slowly enough so that Ogle may benefit from her prayers.

Ogle looks back at Danny, unaware that Danny has already connected the entire crime scene to the convent, unaware that Danny is now listening to a Beatles song, “Strawberry Fields Forever”, Danny is tapping it out, he is feeling it, it’s his way to say, I know what is going on here, it’s not my job to know it, “strawberry fields forever…” It sort of bothers Captain Ogle that Danny can remain so far away from the crime scene, that he doesn’t care, that irks him. A patrol car arrives, Ogle orders them to secure and guard what he now considers a crime scene. And this is about the time that Lauren was busying herself with an escape.

She had finally decided to feel in control again by breaking down the door and running through the hallway, only when she reached the bottom of the stairs, she saw the cop and the coroner, she saw Danny and Ogle, and the two incidental cars and Mother Superior Adelaide, and for some strange reason instead of coming out, instead of calling to Ogle for help she opted to run and hide; and as she was searching for a hideout she stumbled into the basement. She closed the door behind her, yes the place was dank and dark but this was the sort of place perfect for hiding, she walked down the concrete stairs, and as she was walking stumbled into a body and fell. Lauren got all scared, “oh my god, oh my god!” She touched, and realized immediately that some woman was tied and gagged, and Lauren, Detective Lauren kicked into high gear, she began to search for a light, candles, matches anything; in the dark, her head hits the light bulb, she traces the cable to a switch not a foot away from the light, switches it on, sees the woman lying there, “Antoinette?” pauses as if to calm herself, “Antoinette?” She rushes over to her, she doesn’t dare remove any ropes, she has to first figure out what is happening here, she stares at Antoinette’s sumptuous body, a masterful oil on canvas, Lauren starts to cry, she holds Antoinette, holds her with her head on her lap, she is not thinking here, she is caressing Antoinette’s face, she is touching it so as to feel the splendor of this captivating woman, Lauren touches her neck, she is still alive, she touches her neck a little longer, she touches her face, Lauren kisses her face, Lauren, unscrupulously sobbing, kisses her face while the sock is still obtusely hurting Antoinette’s lips, Lauren runs her hands through her upper body, she is massaging Antoinette, gently, Lauren keeps on crying, her tears wash-up on Antoinette’s breast, and linger and fall from there, and some fall on her, and her hair, and Lauren rocks her head gently, crying Lauren, keeps on crying.

Suddenly she hears the lock, the door opening, she instinctively searches for a deeper hiding place, hides behind a barrel, an old oak barrel, she hides behind it. From above coming down is the heavy breathing Bertha, she is holding something, while she stingily thinks, “I forgot to turn the light off.” She reaches Antoinette, “Look at you pretty thing, you need to eat something, Mother Superior Adelaide doesn’t need any more dead people today.” I can honestly tell you that Mother Superior Adelaide had not ordered this feeding! “Yes, we have to feed you so you can feel well again, we wouldn’t want to cause any hardship to Mother Superior Adelaide with that pretty body of yours.” She might as well be talking to a corpse, for all we know Antoinette could be in a coma after that blunt frying pan smashed into her head. Nun Bertha moves Antoinette by grabbing her through her hairy armpits, “I see we don’t shave there either.” Bertha had importantly found something she had in common with Antoinette. Lauren looking on, is still trying to squirm her cries by compressing her lips with her fingers, but she can’t stop crying. Bertha, removing the gagging sock, begins to force feed Antoinette grist, oddly Bertha licking the silver spoon clean after each Antoinette’s mouth moment, and equally taking the time with her rancorous vocal chords to sing, “Lemon tree very pretty and the lemon flower sweet it’s the fruit of the poor lemon that’s impossible to eat…” (Reader, repeat ad nauseam a few times, I refuse.) …as her arms pull up Antoinette’s torso, and a large silver spoon gets shoved into Antoinette’s mouth, over and over again until the run off from her mouth becomes incessant and the victim begins to cough violently, Bertha holds her down as if to stop the convulsions by force, and Antoinette continues to jerk her body while ceaselessly coughing, her eyes open slowly, trying to make sense of the new world order, and then her dark eyes stare stark wide open, at this Bertha thing, and her body paralyzes, stiff! Bertha caresses her hair, then wipes her patient’s mouth with her large stubby and clumsy fingers which harbor dirty and uncut fingernails. “there, there now you are feeling better,” the pale skin paralyzed, the face paralyzed, staring at this ogre, “you’re much better now, yes, yes, Mother Superior Adelaide is going to be happy to hear that you are doing well…”

Unfortunately, Bertha felt the entire athletic weight of Lauren fall upon her with Olympian consequences, both women struggling equally strong from opposing ends, one through raw muscle and anger, and the other through pure mass of fat globules and potato agility; Antoinette’s rigidity ceased, and she slid up against the cold wall watching, she didn’t dare to scream, she was motionless, not even bothering to attempt to remove her dress ropes and not knowing which of these two women was going to kill her.

Then Lauren, after losing part of her pinky, from the second joint forward, to a ferociously manicured bite from Bertha the Ogre, Lauren began to fist pound the Bertha essence, the whole while her half finger spurring a juicy bloodletting all over Bertha’s face, and this even as it was brutally obvious that Bertha’s face could not take any more pounding and still be called a face; Lauren kept on administering one brutal blow after another, Antoinette was pretty much expecting to get the same treatment, and was horrified when she saw Lauren’s anger lift Bertha’s head by her ears and slam it against the cement, one, two three times; where then one of Bertha’s eyes indecently popped out from the heaping spoonful of skull shocks; while Antoinette tried hard to press her back closer and closer to get through the wall, hoping that the wall would let her through to the other side via quantum teleporting, but unfortunately Antoinette, gorgeous as she was, was still too large for all the divined goodies of quantum to take effect upon her. She stayed in the basement.

Lauren finally realized that there was no further momentum to subtract from Nun Bertha, and she then searched towards Antoinette who was still insistent in bleeding her back through the wall. Lauren did not get up from the fat tub-like Bertha body, but rather exhaustively climbed over it and crawled towards Antoinette; who at this time would have probably preferred being forced-fed grist by Bertha. Lauren reached Antoinette’s feet first, Lauren couldn’t talk because in order to move she was using all her energy in exertion, all you can hear is breathing and perspiring and gasping noises, she unwrapped the violet purple dress roped feet; Antoinette continued rubbing wounds into her bloodied back, she was convinced that the wall would soon accept her; Lauren pulled herself up through Antoinette’s thighs, finally reaching her upper body, she forced her to roll over on her back, a horrid sight it was to see that the wall had actually been equally trying to get into Antoinette, and had had more success in that process, perhaps due to a more sincere desire, Antoinette after all was merely trying to escape. Lauren then undid the dress rope from Antoinette’s swollen wrists and hands, and finally collapsed her face on Antoinette’s bloodied back.

They both fell into a slumber of exhaustion. The basement just stood there in silence, watching these two women, and feeling less empty for it.