22
"OCD only caused the finalization of my latest past relationship. My ex couldn't bare my rituals. What caused all of my other relationships to fail before that, however, Natasha," he said and held her hands again, "is the fact that no matter how hard I try, I just can't get over you."
Crying tears of joy, and smiling sweetly, Natasha said, "I can't get over you, either, Ivan. I've gone to extremes to get a man to help me forget about you. I even drugged my next-door, very married neighbor and had sex with him, hoping that this extremely-pleasurable event would help me get over you, but, sadly, it didn't. Now, my life is on the line. He hasn't reported me for rape yet, but I know my life's in his hands, literally. The moment he decides to tell the police on me, I'm finished. Every night I pray that he and his wife get over it. There's just one problem. When I had sex with him, I didn't use protection, and I passed my disease on to him. That could ruin their marriage." Natasha couldn't help it but to start crying. Ivan held her sweetly.
"Don't worry about it," he said. "I will find a way to get him to forgive you and try to repair the damage done to him, his wife and his kids. I will pay for his treatment."
Natasha gave him a big hug, and crying bitterly and sobbing on his shoulder, she said, "Thank you! I don't know what I would've done if you hadn't come back!"
Two hours later, Ivan walked to Heber's house. He knocked tirelessly. There was no one home. However, Heber saw a man standing on his door from the guestroom window. He immediately opened the window, crawled out of the room and out of the house, closed it, and ran back to his house, to the front of his house; just when Ivan was leaving. "Hey!" he said. "Wait up!"
Ivan turned around and simply said, "Hi."
"Were you looking for me?"
"Are you Heber Brady?"
Heber placed both of his hands on his hips and said, "Yes, I am."
"Mr. Brady, I want to talk to you about Ms. Hoffman."
"Are you related to her?"
"No, I'm not, but I will be, soon. May I come in now that you're here?"
"Sure," said Heber. They walked together to the front door. Heber pulled his keys out of his pocket, placed the key inside the lock, gave it a turn and unlocked the entrance door. Then, he opened the door. They walked in together. Heber's three-year-old son, Seth, ran up to them and gave both of them a hug, although he didn't know Ivan. Heber and Anna Maria got Seth from his mother's arms the day he was born. The mother died of AIDS, but the doctors made it so that the baby wouldn't be infected with the virus, also. They succeeded. Despite it all, Seth was a perfectly healthy baby, and now, he was so tall despite his age that he looked twice his age. "Seth, sweetheart, would you please go to my room, get one of my CD's and play it in your mini-stereo, in your room, behind the closed door?"
Smiling, Seth said, "Certainly, Daddy," and gave him a hug and a kiss and ran out of the living room and into the hallway to do as told.
A few minutes later, the conversation between Heber and Ivan started. "What's your name, sir?" he said.
Suddenly, Ivan morphed into Haggai for a few minutes, and using Ivan's body and voice, Haggai said, "It's time, Heber. If you don't do this now, it'll be too late tomorrow."
Heber was so horrified that his eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. He looked like a zombie. He was paralyzed. Then he said, "Oh, my God!"
Horrified, Ivan said, "Are you OK, Heber?"