16
Trying to keep this under 3,000 words was probably the biggest challenge. I'm a novelist. ^^
Hope you enjoy!
About: A cynical exorcist accepts a young girl as his apprentice, however he harbors a game-changing secret.
June 2nd, 2047
I'm standing in the dark again. Above me I look straight at the sun. I remember when I was young and it would hurt my eyes. Now its unnerving blankness feels wrong. Nearly 25 years ago, the sun suddenly stopped lighting the sky. Alike the moon, its bright figure is merely a detail, giving off nearly nothing, and meaning everything at the same time. Alike the loss of its light 25 years ago, the world's perception of itself changed drastically. Suddenly, we weren’t the top of the food chain anymore. However, if you know how to defend yourself against them you won’t find much of a difference in the darkness.
I walk home the way I usually do. Watching my feet for shadows, and trying to have as little social interaction as possible. I walk by a storefront, TVs ablaze with every news station buzzing about tomorrow. June 3rd, 2047, the 25th anniversary of darkness. They mainly cover it because every year someone manages to do something outrageous. It’s not enough that the day itself signifies our impending descent into the shadows, people have to be over the top about it too.
I approach the front steps of my apartment building and see a familiar figure waiting for me outside. Bethanie. She’s reading a book about popular exorcism techniques, and twiddling the silver pendant around her neck between her fingers. When she hears my footsteps growing closer she looks up suddenly, and springs to her feet, letting the book fall to the ground.
“Ex. Muller!” She exclaims. I walk past her.
“Thomas. It’s just Thomas.”
“Some call you the wraith.” She says excitedly, oblivious to my disinterest. I turn my key into the outer metal door of the complex.
“It’s a pretty stupid nickname, isn’t it?” I reply, hoping she’ll realize I'm not in the mood.
She clears her throat. “Ex-Thomas. I want to be your apprentice.” I ignore her and open the metal gate. I turn the knob on the inside door and try to slip inside, but she follows. “Please. I’m a quick learner.” I gaze upon the rows of bronze safes just inside the door and look for my number. 42. I pull out a matching key and stick it in the lock. The dim light of the apartment building foyer flickers. I reach into my safe and pull out a stack of envelopes. A good fourth of them are folded up fliers for churches and the rest letters offering me career opportunities or basically fanmail.
“Thomas, I will not let you down.” I almost forgot that Bethanie was still pestering me. I look her in the eyes--she’s quite shorter than me--and sigh.
“You don’t want to be my apprentice, Beth.” I reply hastily and slam the safe shut, ripping out my key and turning to the stairs.
“I would like nothing more!” I trudge up the steps. She follows.
“You forgot your book outside.”
“I’ll get it on the way out.”
As I ponder more excuses to get her to leave me alone, I hear the routine arguing of the couple at Apartment 24B who should really just break up, because they fight every day.
“Thomas, I-”
“How old are you?” I stop abruptly, looking down at her. She’s got a round face and black hair that matches her dark brown eyes accordingly. I realize that of all the times I’ve spoken to her, I’ve never really looked at her. She reminds me a lot of someone I used to know.
“Sixteen.” I turn back.
“Too young.” I keep walking up the stairs.
“They say you started when you were twelve!” I reach the top of the steps and open my satchel to get out my keys again.
“They say, they say, they say.” I mock. She bites her lip, thoughtfully. I continue to my door. I notice that she has stopped following me. I look at her. She’s standing a little ways down the hallway, probably lost in thought. I sigh to myself and put my key in the lock in my door knob.
“I just want to be like you.” She says quietly, but I hear it perfectly. It makes the small empathetic part of my heart sink. She turns to leave.
“Beth,” I sigh. I’m probably going to regret this. “Do you want to come in?” She turns back to me, a wide smile plastered on her face. I already regret my decision.
I slide a cup of tea over to her. “Sorry, there’s trash everywhere.” I say gesturing to the mass of letters sitting unopened on my coffee table. Bethanie picks one up and examines it.
“Why don’t you open these?” She asks. I shrug. I go into my storage closet and pull out a bag of cat food. Koda hears the ruffling and slips out of my bedroom.
“It’s just a bunch of people treating me like some kind of hero.” I pour the food in Koda’s bowl and he comes up to it excitedly purring. I glide a hand down the gray fur on his back and he purrs louder.
“I mean...you are.” Bethanie says shyly. I slide into a chair across from her and take a sip of my tea. I stare at her for a moment in silence.
“Beth, there’s something you got to understand about exorcism.” I sigh, putting my words together in my head. “Years ago, it was literally a joke. It’s a practice, a pest extermination of sorts. Anyone can do it.”
“Not as well as you.” She says as-a-matter-of-factly. There are reasons for why I’m so 'good' at it.
“It doesn’t make me a hero. If I brought the sun back, maybe, but I just get rid of pesky disturbances in people’s flats.” I watch Bethanie reach down to pet Koda. I notice the Korean characters on her phone screen.
“You save people.” She replies after a few moments. She brings Koda into her lap. I sigh.
“Okay, here’s your first lesson as my apprentice. Not all demons kill, and not all demons are evil.”
“Bull.” She says dryly. I can see she immediately regrets the tone though. “Sorry.” She mumbles. I chuckle a bit. I look to my side and notice my reflection in the mirror on the front of the storage closet door. The image that stares back is a young man, deceivingly, with a lanky frame, greasy, dark brown hair, and nearly glowing green eyes. My eyes throw people off a bit. They’re very bright. I look back at Bethanie.
“The ones that haunt people barely have the ability to manipulate the physical world, and the ones that kill are rare. Most are neutral. Some actually find mediums that they become attached to and protect.” I explain. The name of someone I used to know flutters in the back of my mind. Bethanie wraps the information around her head momentarily. I can’t blame her for seeing the worst in the sentient beings that have taken over our world. They took away the sun, they took away so much. From what I know, her parents were killed by them. Reason enough to have such a bad perception of them.
Although I’ve been around spirits all my life. They aren’t much different from humans. Some are quite friendly even. Humanity hasn’t adjusted to the shift though. Thirty years ago ghosts were just a myth, and stupid twelve year olds would make amateur videos on YouTube to exploit that myth. Most of what we think about them isn’t true. Exorcism is even a different practice from what it seems. You send them away, but they aren’t gone forever. As someone can have a bug infestation, the same happens with poltergeists. In a neutral lighting, they aren’t as scary as one might assume.
“Do you believe in Purgatory, Thomas?” Bethanie finally asks. She knows I don’t wear crosses.
“Not really.”
“What about Heaven? And God?” She probes.
“No.” Perhaps I know too much to say.
“So what? Do you think the science theories about demons are legitimate?”
Koda climbs onto the table and settles right on top of my stack of letters. “To a degree.” I stare into the black hole of my cup and watch the steam distort the view of the liquid inside. “I don’t think anyone knows everything.”
“What if we talked to one?” I look up at her. Her usual bouncy personality has dissipated considerably leaving an apprehensive curiosity behind.
“You probably already have.”
June 3rd, 2047
I would say I do miss the sun rising every morning, however I am one of the lesser few who enjoys the dark. It’s peaceful in its own way. Especially because humankind is so afraid of it that they avoid it like a plague, even 25 years after its arrival. However, it’s harmless. It’s even harmless to plant life as well, because despite its lack of visible light, it still gives off UV light. Which is something scientists are marveled by. I’m not a science guy though, so I couldn’t care less. Although, I would appreciate it if it did in fact cool the earth, because Albuquerque in June is sweltering.
One could call this some sort of apocalyptic event. After all, in the beginning it was chaotic. People had no clue what to think about the new arrivals, the loss of the sun. It was like civilization had collapsed suddenly, and people ran around crazy before any organization was found in the madness. However, things have settled down, in a pretty grim, but manageable way nonetheless. Every year though, on this day, it gets a little crazy again.
About four or five years ago, a group of people--or cult if you will--rose up and chose June 3rd as their Day of Awakening, or some lunacy like that. They call themselves the “Executioners” and hold this ridiculous belief that they can spare themselves from evil spirits by sacrificing a number of civilians every year. So out goes the hunt, and despite frantic federal efforts to keep them under bay, they always come out on top. And as an experienced exorcist, I can tell anyone who’s interested, that sacrificing random people isn’t going to serve them any purpose. They’ve probably just managed to entertain a few lurker spirits. Regardless, they'll be back tonight. They always come back.
There is a knock on my door at eight o’ clock. Me, being the extrovert I am, pretends to not notice the knock and continue on drinking my tea and watching the news for the night’s fiesta to begin. Until I hear Bethanie’s voice muffled through the door.
“Ex. Muller, I’ve brought you something!” She announces through the door. Because I’m worried her loud talking is going to bring attention to her, I stumble over to my door and open it. It isn’t Bethanie Lynn Rey without a dopey smile and five books in hand on exorcism written by only religiously-acclaimed experts. I let her in.
“Please stop calling me Ex. Muller. It’s weird. It makes me feel like a priest, and I’m not a priest.” I state as search for the remote to turn off the TV. Bethanie pulls off her backpack and slips into one of the chairs at my coffee table. She shuffles around in her backpack while I continue looking. I lift Koda off the couch as he hisses at me and retrieve the remote from under him. Then I point it at the TV and search for the power button with my thumb.
“No, don’t turn it off, we should know what’s going on.” Bethanie exclaims. I sigh and toss the remote, silently apologizing to my cat for having to wake him up for nothing. As I approach a chair next to Bethanie she holds out a necklace to me. “I made it for you!” She says excitedly. I take the necklace and look at it.
“What’s this for?” I ask.
“It’s to protect you from demons!” She says. I stare down at the cross. It glimmers against the flickering lights above us. Burn me. I dare you.
“Okay.” I shove it in my pocket and sit down. There's a bit of an awkward silence for a few moments, before I break the ice. "Did you have Secondary, today?" I ask. Bethanie picks at a piece of chipped wood as she answers.
"No, but we still had defense class, because, y'know..." She explains. I nod my head. "Do you have any lessons for me tonight?" She asks. I look at her for a second, trying to understand if what she just proposed was serious or not. When I realize it was, I sigh.
"What, do you think I'm gonna teach you how to fight a Cultist?" I scoff and wander into my kitchen where the kettle is, filling it with more water and placing it on the burner. I listen to Bethanie's voice from the living room not so far away.
"No...but there must be something you can teach me in relation to tonight?" She asks. I look out the window next to the stove. I study the golden lit windows of the skyscrapers downtown, and the contrasting dark skyline. Northern lights that were never there before the dark ride lazily above the Albuquerque skyline. I hear a gunshot in the distance. And then another one. A little bit like the sound of fireworks. Pop, pop, pop. "Thomas?" I come back to my senses.
"Your cross pendant is merely placebo." I blurt out, still looking out the window. I hear the chair legs squeal across the wooden floor boards as Bethanie gets up from her chair.
"What do you mean?" She replies. I turn towards her. I reach into my pocket and take out the one she gave me.
"They act as the blanket a child pulls over their head when they get scared by a nightmare. But they don't protect you." She takes the cross from my hand.
"They've protected me all my life!" She protests.
"No," I grab her wrist and upturn it to show the faded symbol of a moon on it. The public knows of these 'tattoos' as some kind of proof of citizenship, but they are much more. When I run my thumb across it, the faded black ink starts to change color, turning white and glowing as if it's lifting up off her skin. I feel it burn my own skin. "This protects you." Bethanie rips her arm away from me and looks down at the symbol. It begins to darken again, returning to its original faded state. She looks up, seeming like she's about to speak, but is interrupted by a much louder gunshot. And then a proceeding series of screams. However these cries aren't from victims, they are the shouts of depraved lunatics.
"I need to lock the door." I say, heading towards the door, but before I get to it, it flies open, and men in Melpomene masks march in. There are three of them, shotguns in hand and for a moment they stand stagnant in my living room as if they are soldiers who need permission to begin action. I look back at Bethanie in the kitchen. She stands there, shaking, at a loss for words. However, they can't see her from where they are.
"What are you looking at?" One says, mask muffling the words. I stare through the black eyes, angled downward in their tragic mask expressions.
"My kettle. It's almost boiling." I explain. I test them. "Are those uncomfortable to wear? Masks always make my face sweat. I wouldn't like to wear them-"
"Shut up." Another one demands.
"If you are sacrificing me, can you at least take care of my cat?" I say, again testing the boundaries. The man on the left goes to raise his shotgun, but the man in the middle waves him off. I'm not particularly intimidated by a bunch of nobodies in masks. One of the men cocks his head to the side as if he's sizing me up.
"You are without a pendant. Do you know how dangerous that is these days?" The man in the middle asks. His voice is higher, in a sort of unnerving way. I ignore his question.
"I wasn't aware that religious sacrifice had become so contemporary." I gesture at the shotguns. The middle man sighs.
"Spirits want to see that we are willing to do what is needed to be done to guarantee our passage to heaven." He explains. I actually laugh at this, which earns me confused gesture from the three men, and even Bethanie.
"Did they tell you that?" I say, still laughing. The middle man raises his shotgun. I hear the news anchor on the TV announce that there is important breaking news about the Executioners. Bethanie takes a step back, horrified. The kettle boils, and begins to shriek. Middle man cocks his shotgun. Both of the men to his side make a cross motion over their hearts and chant some kind of mantra as he aims the barrel at my chest.
"They will see you now." He says. Bethanie steps forward, calling out for me.
In the space of only several seconds, the three men end up dead on my floor, masks looking more tragic than ever, and over the shrieking of the tea pot I hear Bethanie scream. I open my closed fist now distended in front of me, and let the shotgun shells in my palm fall to the ground. Bethanie looks over at me, and then down at the shells. She's silent for several agonizing seconds. Koda hops off the couch and sniffs at the shells on the ground. The female anchor on the news continues telling her story.
"Thomas." Bethanie starts. I nod. "Are you a demon?" I don't look at her.
"Yeah."
She drops the cross pendant on the ground.
Word Count: 2,988
Hope you enjoy!
About: A cynical exorcist accepts a young girl as his apprentice, however he harbors a game-changing secret.
June 2nd, 2047
I'm standing in the dark again. Above me I look straight at the sun. I remember when I was young and it would hurt my eyes. Now its unnerving blankness feels wrong. Nearly 25 years ago, the sun suddenly stopped lighting the sky. Alike the moon, its bright figure is merely a detail, giving off nearly nothing, and meaning everything at the same time. Alike the loss of its light 25 years ago, the world's perception of itself changed drastically. Suddenly, we weren’t the top of the food chain anymore. However, if you know how to defend yourself against them you won’t find much of a difference in the darkness.
I walk home the way I usually do. Watching my feet for shadows, and trying to have as little social interaction as possible. I walk by a storefront, TVs ablaze with every news station buzzing about tomorrow. June 3rd, 2047, the 25th anniversary of darkness. They mainly cover it because every year someone manages to do something outrageous. It’s not enough that the day itself signifies our impending descent into the shadows, people have to be over the top about it too.
I approach the front steps of my apartment building and see a familiar figure waiting for me outside. Bethanie. She’s reading a book about popular exorcism techniques, and twiddling the silver pendant around her neck between her fingers. When she hears my footsteps growing closer she looks up suddenly, and springs to her feet, letting the book fall to the ground.
“Ex. Muller!” She exclaims. I walk past her.
“Thomas. It’s just Thomas.”
“Some call you the wraith.” She says excitedly, oblivious to my disinterest. I turn my key into the outer metal door of the complex.
“It’s a pretty stupid nickname, isn’t it?” I reply, hoping she’ll realize I'm not in the mood.
She clears her throat. “Ex-Thomas. I want to be your apprentice.” I ignore her and open the metal gate. I turn the knob on the inside door and try to slip inside, but she follows. “Please. I’m a quick learner.” I gaze upon the rows of bronze safes just inside the door and look for my number. 42. I pull out a matching key and stick it in the lock. The dim light of the apartment building foyer flickers. I reach into my safe and pull out a stack of envelopes. A good fourth of them are folded up fliers for churches and the rest letters offering me career opportunities or basically fanmail.
“Thomas, I will not let you down.” I almost forgot that Bethanie was still pestering me. I look her in the eyes--she’s quite shorter than me--and sigh.
“You don’t want to be my apprentice, Beth.” I reply hastily and slam the safe shut, ripping out my key and turning to the stairs.
“I would like nothing more!” I trudge up the steps. She follows.
“You forgot your book outside.”
“I’ll get it on the way out.”
As I ponder more excuses to get her to leave me alone, I hear the routine arguing of the couple at Apartment 24B who should really just break up, because they fight every day.
“Thomas, I-”
“How old are you?” I stop abruptly, looking down at her. She’s got a round face and black hair that matches her dark brown eyes accordingly. I realize that of all the times I’ve spoken to her, I’ve never really looked at her. She reminds me a lot of someone I used to know.
“Sixteen.” I turn back.
“Too young.” I keep walking up the stairs.
“They say you started when you were twelve!” I reach the top of the steps and open my satchel to get out my keys again.
“They say, they say, they say.” I mock. She bites her lip, thoughtfully. I continue to my door. I notice that she has stopped following me. I look at her. She’s standing a little ways down the hallway, probably lost in thought. I sigh to myself and put my key in the lock in my door knob.
“I just want to be like you.” She says quietly, but I hear it perfectly. It makes the small empathetic part of my heart sink. She turns to leave.
“Beth,” I sigh. I’m probably going to regret this. “Do you want to come in?” She turns back to me, a wide smile plastered on her face. I already regret my decision.
I slide a cup of tea over to her. “Sorry, there’s trash everywhere.” I say gesturing to the mass of letters sitting unopened on my coffee table. Bethanie picks one up and examines it.
“Why don’t you open these?” She asks. I shrug. I go into my storage closet and pull out a bag of cat food. Koda hears the ruffling and slips out of my bedroom.
“It’s just a bunch of people treating me like some kind of hero.” I pour the food in Koda’s bowl and he comes up to it excitedly purring. I glide a hand down the gray fur on his back and he purrs louder.
“I mean...you are.” Bethanie says shyly. I slide into a chair across from her and take a sip of my tea. I stare at her for a moment in silence.
“Beth, there’s something you got to understand about exorcism.” I sigh, putting my words together in my head. “Years ago, it was literally a joke. It’s a practice, a pest extermination of sorts. Anyone can do it.”
“Not as well as you.” She says as-a-matter-of-factly. There are reasons for why I’m so 'good' at it.
“It doesn’t make me a hero. If I brought the sun back, maybe, but I just get rid of pesky disturbances in people’s flats.” I watch Bethanie reach down to pet Koda. I notice the Korean characters on her phone screen.
“You save people.” She replies after a few moments. She brings Koda into her lap. I sigh.
“Okay, here’s your first lesson as my apprentice. Not all demons kill, and not all demons are evil.”
“Bull.” She says dryly. I can see she immediately regrets the tone though. “Sorry.” She mumbles. I chuckle a bit. I look to my side and notice my reflection in the mirror on the front of the storage closet door. The image that stares back is a young man, deceivingly, with a lanky frame, greasy, dark brown hair, and nearly glowing green eyes. My eyes throw people off a bit. They’re very bright. I look back at Bethanie.
“The ones that haunt people barely have the ability to manipulate the physical world, and the ones that kill are rare. Most are neutral. Some actually find mediums that they become attached to and protect.” I explain. The name of someone I used to know flutters in the back of my mind. Bethanie wraps the information around her head momentarily. I can’t blame her for seeing the worst in the sentient beings that have taken over our world. They took away the sun, they took away so much. From what I know, her parents were killed by them. Reason enough to have such a bad perception of them.
Although I’ve been around spirits all my life. They aren’t much different from humans. Some are quite friendly even. Humanity hasn’t adjusted to the shift though. Thirty years ago ghosts were just a myth, and stupid twelve year olds would make amateur videos on YouTube to exploit that myth. Most of what we think about them isn’t true. Exorcism is even a different practice from what it seems. You send them away, but they aren’t gone forever. As someone can have a bug infestation, the same happens with poltergeists. In a neutral lighting, they aren’t as scary as one might assume.
“Do you believe in Purgatory, Thomas?” Bethanie finally asks. She knows I don’t wear crosses.
“Not really.”
“What about Heaven? And God?” She probes.
“No.” Perhaps I know too much to say.
“So what? Do you think the science theories about demons are legitimate?”
Koda climbs onto the table and settles right on top of my stack of letters. “To a degree.” I stare into the black hole of my cup and watch the steam distort the view of the liquid inside. “I don’t think anyone knows everything.”
“What if we talked to one?” I look up at her. Her usual bouncy personality has dissipated considerably leaving an apprehensive curiosity behind.
“You probably already have.”
June 3rd, 2047
I would say I do miss the sun rising every morning, however I am one of the lesser few who enjoys the dark. It’s peaceful in its own way. Especially because humankind is so afraid of it that they avoid it like a plague, even 25 years after its arrival. However, it’s harmless. It’s even harmless to plant life as well, because despite its lack of visible light, it still gives off UV light. Which is something scientists are marveled by. I’m not a science guy though, so I couldn’t care less. Although, I would appreciate it if it did in fact cool the earth, because Albuquerque in June is sweltering.
One could call this some sort of apocalyptic event. After all, in the beginning it was chaotic. People had no clue what to think about the new arrivals, the loss of the sun. It was like civilization had collapsed suddenly, and people ran around crazy before any organization was found in the madness. However, things have settled down, in a pretty grim, but manageable way nonetheless. Every year though, on this day, it gets a little crazy again.
About four or five years ago, a group of people--or cult if you will--rose up and chose June 3rd as their Day of Awakening, or some lunacy like that. They call themselves the “Executioners” and hold this ridiculous belief that they can spare themselves from evil spirits by sacrificing a number of civilians every year. So out goes the hunt, and despite frantic federal efforts to keep them under bay, they always come out on top. And as an experienced exorcist, I can tell anyone who’s interested, that sacrificing random people isn’t going to serve them any purpose. They’ve probably just managed to entertain a few lurker spirits. Regardless, they'll be back tonight. They always come back.
There is a knock on my door at eight o’ clock. Me, being the extrovert I am, pretends to not notice the knock and continue on drinking my tea and watching the news for the night’s fiesta to begin. Until I hear Bethanie’s voice muffled through the door.
“Ex. Muller, I’ve brought you something!” She announces through the door. Because I’m worried her loud talking is going to bring attention to her, I stumble over to my door and open it. It isn’t Bethanie Lynn Rey without a dopey smile and five books in hand on exorcism written by only religiously-acclaimed experts. I let her in.
“Please stop calling me Ex. Muller. It’s weird. It makes me feel like a priest, and I’m not a priest.” I state as search for the remote to turn off the TV. Bethanie pulls off her backpack and slips into one of the chairs at my coffee table. She shuffles around in her backpack while I continue looking. I lift Koda off the couch as he hisses at me and retrieve the remote from under him. Then I point it at the TV and search for the power button with my thumb.
“No, don’t turn it off, we should know what’s going on.” Bethanie exclaims. I sigh and toss the remote, silently apologizing to my cat for having to wake him up for nothing. As I approach a chair next to Bethanie she holds out a necklace to me. “I made it for you!” She says excitedly. I take the necklace and look at it.
“What’s this for?” I ask.
“It’s to protect you from demons!” She says. I stare down at the cross. It glimmers against the flickering lights above us. Burn me. I dare you.
“Okay.” I shove it in my pocket and sit down. There's a bit of an awkward silence for a few moments, before I break the ice. "Did you have Secondary, today?" I ask. Bethanie picks at a piece of chipped wood as she answers.
"No, but we still had defense class, because, y'know..." She explains. I nod my head. "Do you have any lessons for me tonight?" She asks. I look at her for a second, trying to understand if what she just proposed was serious or not. When I realize it was, I sigh.
"What, do you think I'm gonna teach you how to fight a Cultist?" I scoff and wander into my kitchen where the kettle is, filling it with more water and placing it on the burner. I listen to Bethanie's voice from the living room not so far away.
"No...but there must be something you can teach me in relation to tonight?" She asks. I look out the window next to the stove. I study the golden lit windows of the skyscrapers downtown, and the contrasting dark skyline. Northern lights that were never there before the dark ride lazily above the Albuquerque skyline. I hear a gunshot in the distance. And then another one. A little bit like the sound of fireworks. Pop, pop, pop. "Thomas?" I come back to my senses.
"Your cross pendant is merely placebo." I blurt out, still looking out the window. I hear the chair legs squeal across the wooden floor boards as Bethanie gets up from her chair.
"What do you mean?" She replies. I turn towards her. I reach into my pocket and take out the one she gave me.
"They act as the blanket a child pulls over their head when they get scared by a nightmare. But they don't protect you." She takes the cross from my hand.
"They've protected me all my life!" She protests.
"No," I grab her wrist and upturn it to show the faded symbol of a moon on it. The public knows of these 'tattoos' as some kind of proof of citizenship, but they are much more. When I run my thumb across it, the faded black ink starts to change color, turning white and glowing as if it's lifting up off her skin. I feel it burn my own skin. "This protects you." Bethanie rips her arm away from me and looks down at the symbol. It begins to darken again, returning to its original faded state. She looks up, seeming like she's about to speak, but is interrupted by a much louder gunshot. And then a proceeding series of screams. However these cries aren't from victims, they are the shouts of depraved lunatics.
"I need to lock the door." I say, heading towards the door, but before I get to it, it flies open, and men in Melpomene masks march in. There are three of them, shotguns in hand and for a moment they stand stagnant in my living room as if they are soldiers who need permission to begin action. I look back at Bethanie in the kitchen. She stands there, shaking, at a loss for words. However, they can't see her from where they are.
"What are you looking at?" One says, mask muffling the words. I stare through the black eyes, angled downward in their tragic mask expressions.
"My kettle. It's almost boiling." I explain. I test them. "Are those uncomfortable to wear? Masks always make my face sweat. I wouldn't like to wear them-"
"Shut up." Another one demands.
"If you are sacrificing me, can you at least take care of my cat?" I say, again testing the boundaries. The man on the left goes to raise his shotgun, but the man in the middle waves him off. I'm not particularly intimidated by a bunch of nobodies in masks. One of the men cocks his head to the side as if he's sizing me up.
"You are without a pendant. Do you know how dangerous that is these days?" The man in the middle asks. His voice is higher, in a sort of unnerving way. I ignore his question.
"I wasn't aware that religious sacrifice had become so contemporary." I gesture at the shotguns. The middle man sighs.
"Spirits want to see that we are willing to do what is needed to be done to guarantee our passage to heaven." He explains. I actually laugh at this, which earns me confused gesture from the three men, and even Bethanie.
"Did they tell you that?" I say, still laughing. The middle man raises his shotgun. I hear the news anchor on the TV announce that there is important breaking news about the Executioners. Bethanie takes a step back, horrified. The kettle boils, and begins to shriek. Middle man cocks his shotgun. Both of the men to his side make a cross motion over their hearts and chant some kind of mantra as he aims the barrel at my chest.
"They will see you now." He says. Bethanie steps forward, calling out for me.
In the space of only several seconds, the three men end up dead on my floor, masks looking more tragic than ever, and over the shrieking of the tea pot I hear Bethanie scream. I open my closed fist now distended in front of me, and let the shotgun shells in my palm fall to the ground. Bethanie looks over at me, and then down at the shells. She's silent for several agonizing seconds. Koda hops off the couch and sniffs at the shells on the ground. The female anchor on the news continues telling her story.
"Thomas." Bethanie starts. I nod. "Are you a demon?" I don't look at her.
"Yeah."
She drops the cross pendant on the ground.
Word Count: 2,988
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Sorry, just wondering. XD I could be wrong.
omg that word count is so clutch
also is that why Beth's tattoo glowed, because he's an "enemy"