Omnipotent

By Mariah McIntyre Sharkey-Brumund

Twelve year-old Cassandra has fallen from grace by losing faith in her parents, her teachers, and ultimately, the sacred. After an unsuspecting journey with her dog, she returns restored, as new answers to old questions emerge in an ethereal way.

“A great, emotional book, with an element similar to the best-selling novel, Wonder, as in you never wish for the story to end” —Sol Vincent, age 13

“Captivating; transports me right into the main character’s shoes from page one. The way the story is told made me feel like the world in this book was being built around me as I read” —Savannah Whitby, age 10

“An insightful book of sixth graders coming of age. I can totally relate to this story. The green swirl and all the colors completely changed my perspective of what might be waiting after this world. I can’t wait for the sequel!” —Chase Maciel, age 12

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Mar 5, 2020
• ISBN: 9781480888623

Mariah McIntyre Sharkey-Brumund

Mariah McIntyre Sharkey-Brumund called her parents from the University of Notre Dame and said, “I want to be an English major.” Her parents said, “No. You should become a nurse.” And so she did, specializing in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, and then became a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist. After twenty years of working in hospitals, she is now home to be with her three tween children and pursue her passion in writing. Sharkey-Brumund is the recipient of the Hero of Hearts Award, Rush Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center, The Norman Vincent Peale Award for The Power of Positive Thinking, & The National Caring Award for creating her high school’s annual Solidarity Week; a set of shared activities mirroring the solidarity movement of Lech Walesa in Poland. Solidarity Week was and still is about emphasizing the commonalities that bind us together as human beings, rather than those differences that separate us. She lives in San Diego, California with her family.

Book preview

Copyright © 2020 Mariah McIntyre Sharkey-Brumund.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Archway Publishing

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.archwaypublishing.com

1 [phone]

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-4808-8861-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-8863-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-8862-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020903858

Archway Publishing rev. date: 02/28/2020

Dedication

To my Mother, Kathleen

Prodogue:

THE PROBLEM

OF ALVA

GettyImages-654760756.jpg

T hose who loved her called her Ca ssie.

The one she loved she called Co-Cassie.

Cassandra Grace O’Shaughnessy clenched her jaw and prayed that the incensed nun would not strike her. It had been more than two decades since a student had been hit. The yardstick in the corner was only a reminder, or so Cassie told herself. But now it was in her teacher’s hand.

You are a disrespectful young girl, seethed Sister Alva. Animals do not go to heaven! Sister Alva’s tone was even-tempered yet mean as she verbally marched over Cassie, who could never have imagined a scolding from her beloved teacher—before now.

She felt her fair skin flush; she hated when she flushed. It was the worst part of being a redhead—a dead giveaway that she was angry or about to cry. Or both. Cassie raised her eyes to the nun and made the decision not to cry. Though it was December, warm San Diego sunlight shone through the classroom windows, as if to lend Cassie courage.

Sister Alva, I believe my dog went to heaven already. God took her the instant she died. Cassie was relieved that her voice sounded calm and respectful. Do not cry, do not cry, and do not cry, she chanted in her head. "Sister Alva, I know my dog has gone to heaven …" One tear almost crept out.

Why would you say such things? Your parents work to the bone to send you to this pristine Catholic school, yet your rudeness insults them. You insult your superiors, insisting on things we know are false. You insult your insolent self. Worst of all, Cassandra, you insult Him by questioning things the Bible has told us to be true.

Frightened, knowing that trouble and possibly the darkness would ensue, Cassie spoke rapidly.

Ecclesiastes, chapter 3, verse 19 says ‘For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same. As one dies so dies the other; indeed—’

Stop. The Bible does not insinuate an animal heaven! yelled the nun.

‘They all have the same breath and there is no advantage to man over beast, for all is vanity. All go to the same place …’

"I said stop."

Suzie’s eyes were as wide as Hosts. Kevin kept his mischievous green eyes down. Cassie’s friends could no longer look at her. They were all becoming weary of her worries.

Cassandra, Sister Alva continued, you have once again tested my immense patience. You will now serve detention, alone, for the rest of this week.

I know animals go to heaven, Sister Alva. Please, listen to me. Cassie pleaded for her teacher, whom she had once loved and who now felt so distant, to believe her.

Stop talking.

I have seen it myself, as clearly as I can see you don’t really care about me anymore, Cassie said quietly, almost to herself. The tears won and silently streamed down her face.

Cassie worried she was about to give in to the darkness.

Detention.

"But He told me. I saw Him."

Suspension. Merry Christmas, Miss O’Shaughnessy. Sister Alva knew Cassandra’s parents would discipline her severely for a suspension. She crept down next to Cassie’s ear and whispered almost inaudibly, Do not utter one more blasphemous word. I do not believe you. No one believes you.

Stop whispering to her! Suzie boomed, jumping out of her seat and grabbing Cassie’s shoulders. Look at her eyelids! She’s about to—

The darkness happened all at once: the smell of raw meat seeped into Cassie’s mind … Did it come through her nose? Her memory? She never could say when people questioned her later. She was always so tired after … her incomplete memory always the same …

The iridescent kaleidoscopic spots began to dance in her vision. Suzie had already hauled Cassie’s shoulders to the ground and turned her head to the side as Kevin caught her legs and plunked them flat onto the hard-as-cement school carpet.

So Cassandra Grace O’Shaughnessy did not injure herself when she seized on the classroom floor and surrendered to the darkness.

Contents

PART I   HEART

Chapter 1     New Friend

Chapter 2     The Name Game

Chapter 3     The Matriarch

Chapter 4     Nightmare

Chapter 5     Scotoma³

Chapter 6     Phantosmia

Chapter 7     Protector

Chapter 8     Anxiety

Chapter 9     Aura

Chapter 10   Scents

PART II   CHILDREN

Chapter 11   Halloween

Chapter 12   Earthquake⁴

Chapter 13   Illumination⁵

Chapter 14   Father Anthony Cupcake⁶

Chapter 15   Funus

Chapter 16   Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust

Chapter 17   Sins of Commission

Chapter 18   Sins of Omission

Chapter 19   Loneliness

Chapter 20   Email

Chapter 21   Connections

Chapter 22   Thankful

Chapter 23   Instincts⁷

PART III   LIGHT

Chapter 24   December

Chapter 25   A Letter⁸

Chapter 26   Belief⁹

Chapter 27   The Darkness Shall Be the Light

Chapter 28   Healing

Chapter 29   And the Stillness the Dancing

Chapter 30   Finale

GettyImages-172867423.jpg

PART I

HEART

Things are meant

There are signs

The heart speaks

There is a way

—Father John Dunne, CSC

Professor of Theology

The University of Notre Dame

1995

GettyImages-898133896.jpg   1   GettyImages-898133896.jpg

NEW FRIEND

1. friend:¹ a person attached to another by

feelings of affection or personal regard

2. new:² of a kind now existing or

appearing for the first time; novel

O h, Mom—she’s beautiful. Beautiful. Cassie gazed at the creature that was now part of the O’Shaughnessy family, that was wagging her tail as if she had lived in their home forever, even though the only name she’d been given so far was The Dog.

Cassie, The Dog has been abused, Mrs. O’Shaughnessy cautioned. She is considered a rescue dog. Girls, do you know what that means?

Yes, Mrs. O, chimed in Suzie, who was so excited that her ponytail was whipping around like The Dog’s grateful tail. It means we have to be good and kind and gentle to her. We need to earn her respect, we need to love her, feed her, walk her …

"Suzie Q—I know you know what to do. But, Cassie, do you understand how important it is that we properly look after her? Hold her leash tight. Keep the gate shut." Mrs. O’s hand was motioning a circle as she listed duties. Mrs. O knew that her daughter could, at times, be hasty: rushed, sloppy, or, more often, so caught up in the moment that she forgot to be careful, to pay attention to detail.

I do, Mom. I will, Mom, Cassie promised while looking her mother squarely in the eye.

All right. She is a worker dog, a herder. From what the shelter told me, this intelligent dog will quickly understand the importance of her assignment.

Assignment? Suzie asked.

Cassie explained, Suz, she’s going to accompany the three of us to and from school. She’s going to help keep us safe.

"Mrs. O! You don’t think Cassie and I are safe walking together? It’s only, like, a mile from here to Saint Mary’s! We will totally keep an eye on John Thomas. I love him like he was my little brother." Suzie sounded hurt.

Suzie Q, you are like a daughter to me. I wish Dr. O and I and your mom could start work later in the day, but hospitals start early. You and my Cassie are young girls who are smart and strong, but, well, you know why, honey.

Mrs. O’s voice trailed off, and her eyes filled with tears. She tucked a lock of light brown hair behind Suzie’s ear. Silence enveloped the room. The Dog seemed to be listening to their conversation.

Izel. Because of what happened to Izel, Cassie whispered, hating that her mother brought up the tragic memory in front of Suzie. Why did Mom have to mention Izel?

I get it. I know. Suzie sighed and immediately became teary. "I miss her. She was a good friend, a kind person, and the best soccer goalie in the history of Saint Mary’s. We loved playing soccer together—since we were in kindergarten!"

Cassie knew that Suzie equated someone’s worth with a) their loyalty as a friend and b) their talent as a soccer player. Cassie was awful at soccer.

Mrs. O squeezed Suzie’s hand lightly before continuing. "You girls should sit with The Dog. Give The Dog the back of your hand, gently, and let her take your scent. Then ask her if you can pet her. I swear she seems to understand what we’re saying. That was why I specifically picked her at the shelter. It seemed like she was listening to me describe what I was looking for."

Mrs. O sank her hands into The Dog’s fur. Petting this dog actually made her feel better.

At the shelter, they said this breed’s general attitude toward people is loyalty and affection. But this dog seems like a person zipped up in a dog suit. It’s uncanny.

The canine continued to listen to their conversation. Her beautiful dark brown eyes looked as if they were lined with black eyeliner, giving The Dog a particularly deep and pensive gaze. Her muzzle was shortish, her head somewhat triangular in shape. The Dog’s fur was soft and sable colored. Her crest was entirely white, which gave her a slightly regal air.

Is she a collie, Mrs. O? Like Lassie from that old TV show? Suzie asked.

Cassie shrugged, as she’d never heard of it.

Close, love. The proper name of this breed is a Shetland sheepdog or sheltie. Most people do call them a miniature collie. Why don’t you both take her for her first walk?

The girls eagerly agreed. They fumbled with the leash but soon realized The Dog didn’t need a leash and that she seemed to be leading the walk, not them.

The trio strolled down El Camino Milagros to St. Mary’s Catholic School and walked onto the open campus grounds. They took The Dog to their classroom, stopped, and patted the door as if to signal this was their homeroom. Next, they stood outside the large window of the principal’s office, and Suzie picked up The Dog. All three looked through the window to where a large photographic memorial lived. The heartbreaking framed photo of Izel Gomez looked out of place: a gorgeous girl but one who was missing, her essence found only inside a frame at a school’s office.

In the picture, Izel stood tall under the white rim of a soccer goal, with goalie gloves on and a black-and-white ball propped on her right hip. Most notable was the smile on her face that outshone her bright green uniform. The memorial read:

Izel Maria Gomez

Regional Champion

Goalie, Beloved Friend, Honor Student

Saint Mary’s Catholic School

Born 2007

Last spring, Izel Maria Gomez’s entire family was killed in a car crash on El Camino Milagros. Instead of being a clean-cut tragedy, the incident had become shrouded in unanswered despair and mystery, as Izel was in the crash, but her body was never found.

No paramedics, no police, no one could explain how she vanished, though different theories existed among kids and adults. Most parents assumed she wandered from the scene of the accident in an attempt to get help, and some thought she had then been kidnapped. Some kids thought that she wasn’t kidnapped but ran away, though by all accounts she had nothing to run from; the Gomez family was closely knit. Haunted by guilt for even thinking it, Cassie couldn’t stop her mind from imagining Izel stumbling out of the car’s wreckage, bleeding and screaming for help, and then Cassie couldn’t decide what horrible fate she met. Maybe she fell into the nearby canyon, and the coyotes found her that night. Maybe someone picked her up and took her far from home. Maybe she was alive and well in a different place, though this seemed impossible and mean of Cassie’s imagination to put a positive twist on such a catastrophe.

All Cassie knew was that she wished she’d been kinder to Izel when she was around and that