Renwar Vallée The Battle for the souls of Néarbi Town

Destiny - 1

May 2015

The sun shone brightly through the clouds, showing glimpses of the blue-green sky, sending beams of light to shine on Néarbi Valley, highlighting the beauty that lay within. Today is a beautiful day. Hmmm, the air is so crispy, clean, and fresh, the perfect day for a walk in this soon-to-be overdeveloped town, seventeen-year-old Renwar Vallée thought as he parked his car in the designated parking area to walk down the street to meet his friends.

Néarbi Valley had almost everything the regular big cities had—an Internet café, the Witches or Warlocks R’ Us convenient store, NV Chicken Supreme, NV Burger Delight, Pizza R We, and Fast Drive. The latter was the only car place in town where a few of the latest cars were made and distributed throughout the world.

“Ahhh! Stop that thief!” an afro-haired middle-aged black woman cried out as the teen ran off with her star-shaped red handbag. The averagely built teen with blunt-cut spiky blue hair bobbed and weaved through the crowded street to escape with his captured goods.

As people scampered out of the way, someone tried to apprehend the teen, but he managed to elude the big, boulder-sized arms that attempted to grab him. Smiling as he continued running down the street, Renwar Vallée, a tall athletically built teen with sky blue eyes and short wavy jet-black hair, seeing the thief heading in his direction, thought to himself, this town is getting worse. He stuck his foot out in front of the thief. The thief lost his balance and crashed to the sidewalk pavement. Cursing in agony as he tried to get up, he was instantly apprehended by the big, boulder-sized arms of a plainclothes police officer.

“O-officer, t-that’s the boy that grabbed my handbag,” the woman, coming up from behind, breathlessly said as the plainclothes officer placed the cuffs on the thief’s wrist.

“Miss, you can file a report at the station as this is a regular offender, and your testimony can help keep him behind bars.”

“I want to file the report, and I want to follow up with the case,” she stated as they walked a short distance to the Néarbi Valley Police headquarters.

Smiling, Renwar continued walking down the busy street and turned into NV Burger Delight, where his friends were already seated and had already ordered breakfast while waiting for him to grace them with his presence.

“Late again, Ren!” Satin fumed as Ren sat in the chair across from her, looking at his beautiful, sassy teen witch best friend with sea-green eyes and a half-shaved, half-long metallic-blue punk hairstyle.

“Yeah, sorry about that. This time it wasn’t my fault. There was a kid that got arrested right in front of me. He seemed to have stolen some lady’s handbag. I was only too happy to help with bringing him to justice.”

“Really, now,” Christian chuckled, a blue-grey-eyed, average-height, muscularly built football player with prickly low-cut honey-blond hair.

“Yeah, ever since they elected Zamora Darkstorm as mayor, I swear something happens every day in this town. She claims Néarbi Valley is ideal for growth and development and would encourage tourism and more exposure for the town. On the other hand, all I’m seeing are more crime and violence. I think it’s time we leave this town and go somewhere else.”

“I understand how you feel, Ren, but if we all leave this town, to whom are we leaving it with? We would be handing the town to the criminals and corruptive politicians who fatten their pockets while the poor and middle-class struggle with barely enough wages to get by,” Satin voiced.

“Tru, man! Ef aal a wi guh, wo a guh defend wi family, wo deh yah fa generations? Wi cyaan jus gi up now wen tings get hawd. Plus, wi affi finish school, or else, wi cyaan guh nuhweh and mek a positive change ina society, unless yuh waan wi parents hunt wi down and kill wi,” Baní, another football player for the Néarbi Méka High Panthers team, argued. With his killer smile, accent, spiky fire-truck-red hairstyle with a long lock of beaded hair to the side, one cheek dimple, amber-brown eyes, and a winning personality, Baní tried to keep his friends on the right path.

“Yeah, I mean, if we do not take a stand here, then crime will spread to the neighbouring communities and evil will continue to thrive and poison other towns. There will be crime and violence wherever we go, especially if no one stands up for justice,” said Satin, agreeing with Baní.

“Wow! Passionate and beautiful, two qualities I look for in a woman,” whispered Christian in her ear, smiling as he admired Satin, while they exited the NV Burger Delight restaurant after eating their breakfast. Satin turned and smiled as she continued giving ideas on how to go about making positive changes to influence society. As they continued down the road, the wind got chillier and the sky suddenly darkened, hiding the beautiful sunshine that was there a minute ago. Raindrops as big as the size of a baseball started pelting down. Everyone scampered for cover and wondered where this sudden killer rain came from.

* * *

On a hill overlooking the town, trouble was brewing.

“Sáphire, I-I don’t think you’re doing the spell right,” Anna stammered.

“You said I should start with rain, Anna!” Sáphire yelled at her younger sister.

“I-I did but look at the size of the raindrops. Everyone will notice it’s not a regular thunderstorm. Maybe it would be more believable if you turned it into hail,” Anna corrected.

Before Sáphire could alter her spell, the area around the sisters shimmered with a sparkly purple cloud of dust, and there emerged Zamora.

“Aaachu!” Anna sneezed, using her hand to fan away the dust.

“Hachuuu,” Sáphire coughed while wiping the dust from her eyes.

“Girls, what are you doing? Didn’t I tell you, no spells until the time is right?” Zamora shouted furiously.

“Yes, Zamora, but we got bored and wanted to have some fun,” Sáphire whined.

“Why can’t you both act like regular teenagers for now? You do remember what that is, right? Remember, you need to conceal who you are, so no more magic. Is that clear, Anna and Sáphire?

“Yes, Zamora,” Anna replied.

“Who died and made you ruler over our lives?” Sáphire yelled.

“You very well know who died and made me your ruler. They would be very disappointed with your behaviour, knowing you were throwing away everything we have all worked for just for fun. Tsk- tsk,” Zamora replied.

* * *

Later that evening, Renwar decided to work on one of his collectables while listening to his favourite techno beat since the storm that suddenly appeared disappeared just as quickly as it started. He tested his engine. Vroom, vroom.

Someone approached the door.

“Hey, race car driver Renwar. Ren!” Satin shouted over the roar of the car engine and techno beats.

Renwar eventually glanced up to see one of his best friends glaring at him from his open garage door.

“Oh, hey, Satin. Sorry, didn’t see you there. I was um . . . just testing out my brand-new addition to the family,” he said, smiling as he turned down the heavy beats and stopped revving the engine.

“I can see that. Who gave it to you?” she replied, walking farther into his large garage while passing other makes and models of cars from the early forties to the present to take a closer look at Renwar’s new addition to the family.

“My dad gave me as a pre-graduation present,” Renwar happily responded.

Satin ran her hands over the new machine, taking in the new car scent, and said, “Wow, that makes it fifty in total now, right?”

“Yeah, that’s about right. Have you been keeping tabs on me, Satin?” Renwar replied as he stared at her for a moment and chuckled.

Renwar had inherited some of the cars from his great-grandparents and from his father, who also helped him continue the family tradition.

“Not really. It’s pretty hard to hide something like this in Néarbi Valley, especially when your dad owns the only car place in town,” she replied, smiling as she turned and opened the car door to check out the interior.

“I know, but it is one of the best deals ever to come out of my parents’ divorce after my dad returned for a short while from the war,” he grumbled.

“Yeah, I’m sorry about that,” she whispered as she stepped out of the car and walked over to Ren.

“It’s okay, I’m a big boy now. Who needs their mother at seventeen?” he bitterly responded as she gently rubbed his broad-muscled shoulders.

“Ren, take it easy, enough of the sad stuff. Remember, we have history and religious education final exams tomorrow.”

“What? I thought that was done already,” he blurted with a shocked expression on his face, running his fingers through his hair, and stared at her.

Satin, raising an eyebrow at him, chided, “No, silly, that was just a mock exam. I recommend you leave your collections and go study now.”

As Satin ordered Renwar to leave, she started pulling him away from his garage and pointed him to the door.

“Renwar, Ren!” Mrs. Nutti hollered from upstairs.

“Coming, Gran-Gran!” shouted Ren.

“I have to go now. See you tomorrow at school,” Renwar said as he walked Satin to her car. He hugged and kissed her on the cheek then ran to Gran-Gran Nutti.

* * *

Running up the stairs two steps at a time of the two-story family home, Renwar knocked on his grandmother’s room’s door.

“Is everything, all right, Gran-Gran?” Renwar asked as he looked at his grandmother with a worried expression on his face.

Mrs. Nutti was in her early sixties and was quite fond of her only grandchild, with kind beady baby blue eyes and white hair. Mrs. Nutti smiled and replied, “Yes. Your mother called and wanted to know if you had everything you needed for university in August.”

His facial expression changed from worry to anger in a flash, snapping as he responded, “Gran-Gran, I told you I don’t have a mother!”

Mrs. Nutti, shocked by his sudden outburst, scolded him, “Boy, you better talk to me with respect before I turn your head behind your back.”

Renwar, realizing his anger got the better of him, counted to ten in his mind and replied, “I’m sorry, Gran-Gran. It’s just that each time I think about what she did, it just brings back bitter memories. I have to study for my last two exams for tomorrow, so can we talk about this some other time, please?”

Mrs. Nutti, seeing his need to escape the conversation in his eyes, said, “Okay, my love. Go study and continue to make your father proud.”

Renwar hugged and kissed his grandmother good-night and went to study in his room. It was late Thursday night, and Renwar spent the last of his evening studying for his history and religious education final-year exams. Sitting around his work area, with his books scattered across his bed and table, he crammed the last bit of information into his head.

I hope that’s it. I never want to see another history or religious book ever again! he thought to himself as he closed his book.

He began yawning more frequently, so he drank a warm glass of milk and ate the last of his great-grandma Nutti’s chocolate oatmeal cookies. He dragged his comforter off his bed, ignoring the books that fell to the floor, then collapsed on his soft mattress and fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

With tears streaming down both Mrs. Vallée’s and little Renwar’s faces, she whispered, “I’m sorry, baby, but Mommy has to leave now.” Renwar’s mother was a small-framed athletic woman with long wavy red hair and small blue eyes.

“Why? Don’t you love us anymore?” Renwar asked while sobbing as he could not understand why his mother was leaving him.

“Renwar, we talked about this before. I love you very much, but your father and I have differences that cannot be reconciled,” she replied as she wiped her puffy red eyes and hugged Ren, trying to wipe the tears from his eyes.

“What does that mean?” Renwar asked, shaking his head.

Mr. Vallée, overhearing the conversation, blurted, “It means your mother is leaving us for another man! You don’t have to lie to the boy, Megan. He’s a grown child.”

“Please, John, stop it! I don’t want to leave here on bad terms. Ren is only seven. Please don’t say anything more,” Mrs. Vallée pleaded.

Mr. Vallée stormed out of Ren’s bedroom, leaving Mrs. Vallée with little Renwar.

“I cannot live with you and your father any longer. Being a Christian, this is one of the sacrifices I must take,” she cried.

Ren interrupted. “Being a Christian means you leave your family?” he asked as he looked deep into his mother’s eyes for a response.

Mrs. Vallée cleared her throat and attempted once more to explain, “No, Renwar, but I cannot be unequally yoked with unbelievers. I have to do what I feel is right, son.”

“But we all go to church every Sunday. Why do things now have to change?” Renwar questioned as he couldn’t believe his mom of seven years was really leaving. Feeling his anger rising, he closed his eyes and counted to ten in his mind and said, “But, Mom, I don’t understand why you are leaving me. Don’t you want me anymore?”

“Please, Ren, don’t make this any harder than it is already. Going to church is not enough. As soon as both you and your father accept Jesus Christ into your heart as your Savior, I will be waiting.”

Mrs. Vallée looked at Ren and wiped another tear from his cheek. Renwar, looking like his world was about to cave in, said, “I need to accept Jesus Christ into my heart so that my mom can stay with me?”

Mr. Vallée barged into Ren’s room, took Mrs. Vallée by the hand, and shouted angrily at her, shaking her frantically, “Megan, you can’t possibly believe that leaving your family that you have known for over eleven years is right. Something inside you must be saying this is wrong.”

She began wincing in pain as she struggled to get free of her husband’s hold and cried, “John, please let go. You’re hurting me.”

He looked at his frightened wife and released her. “I am sorry.” While wiping a tear from his cheek, he whispered, “I won’t force you to stay, but know this, if you change your mind, you can return home. I will always love you.”

With tears streaming down her face, Mrs. Vallée said “Good-bye, my loves” and ran to the waiting car outside.

Ren hugged his father as they watched his mom drive away from the Vallée manor with Pastor Lin Pinwheel behind the wheel.

* * *