Nzambi

Blood poured from my chest as I ran into the woods. My eyes darting back and forth, wishing to God that I hadn't done what I did. I thought of all the countless times that I tried to help her, all the times I stayed up late working on a cure. Three months with barely a wink of sleep, staring at those formulas and calculating. As if I could ever go against destiny herself. I tripped on a root and fell to the cold earth, the snow stinging my flushed cheeks. I yelled out in pain, blood now gushing from me. I couldn't move at all, I was going to pass out in a few seconds. Tunnel vision made it so hard to see the silhouette of the one I used to love.

I was a doctor at Duke Hospital before all this. I was one of the best to. I got the fattest paycheck, got the best reviews, and was loved by everyone. I was at the head of a new project to cure tumors. I was researching this new plant that may have properties to treat a cancer patient. It seems that it is the way of life, like God is sitting on his almighty office working on his next joke when he realizes that one man is having to good of a life. I had a wife, a child on the way, a great job and then He decides that it was time for a shit-storm.
I woke up by a kiss on the lips from Mary. I smiled, not opening my eyes.
“Why such a nice wake up call? Usually you're pushing me out of bed to get coffee started.” She laughed and pulled the covers away from me playfully.
“Well, I thought I might ask nicely this time. Would you?” I opened my eyes to taken in the sight of her messy morning hair and those shining blue eyes. I sighed sarcastically. “I guess so...” She smacked me for my back talk and I stumbled out of bed to get the coffee started.
The morning sun fell through the window to light up her face while she buttoned her shirt and sipped her coffee. I couldn't help but smile at her as she got dressed and I handed her the hot coffee She kissed my cheek and said “What are you smiling at, you look rather goofy with such a big grin.” I blushed a little at that.
“You're being mean, saying I look goofy. All I was thinking was that there is something about you today. You got a mommy glow to you.” It was true. Her face was softer than usual, her eyes were as blue as a robins egg when usually they were like the ocean. It was funny to me that she seemed to look so different. In a good way, not a bad way.
She took the coffee and sipped it. She smiled. Then her smile seemed to fumble, and she dropped the coffee and fell to ground. She clutched her head and rocked back and forth. Then she collapsed.
“She has a tumor. I'm surprised she has been lasting this long as it is. But as you well know Doctor, there's nothing we can do about it.” Tom handed me the catscan. At a glance I knew she was in trouble. The tumor was too big and in the wrong place to be cut out. I paced back and forth. Tom stopped me and said, “She wants to see you.”
I sat next to her and kissed her cheek. “Mary, how do you feel?” She made a halfhearted laugh and answered, “I feel like there's a tennis ball in my brain. How are you?” I mimicked her laugh, but said nothing. We didn't have to. We were both so scared about her deing. I gulped and she decided she should hug me. She always knew what I was thinking. I began to cry as she held me, she was so warm, so full of life.
Two lives to be exact.
I shivered and asked my wife if she wanted anything, I knew what she was going to ask for.
“Green tea?” I smiled at her and was about to walk out to get it, when she said something under her breath. She was clenching her jaw and eyes in pain, but she still said those three words.
“I love you.” I kissed her when she relaxed a bit.
“I love you too. I'll get your drink.”
That was the last time I saw her alive.
I walked out of the room slowly, checking the hallways for Tom. My mind was drifting back and forth like I was on a ship, my thumbs were twirling together in anxiety. I saw him. I ran over to him and asked about the baby. He told me that my wife was most likely going to die and the baby was not developed enough to survive this. My eyes erupted in tears.
I burst through the bathroom doors and barfed in the toilet. Everything about this was so wrong, so bad, so horribly horribly wrong. I went over to the mirror and stared at myself. My usually nice combed back hair was disheveled and gross. My brown eyes were bloodshot. I knew I had to do something.
That plant.
I ran down the hall, pushed a nurse out of my way, nearly hit a patient and bounded up the stairs. That plant that I was researching had the key to save my wife. I knew it did. The way it suppressed the growth of the tumor and even shrunk it made me sure that it would work.
At least in theory. The whole reason we are researching the plant here in Duke was because of Tom actually. He was on the team that went down to South America and in this one village a shaman used it to cure a woman, supposedly with a tumor or something like it. I didn't know everything about the story, only what my research told me. It had the properties that would hopefully eliminate the tumor. I grabbed a sample of it to put in her IV. Back down I went.
With vial in hand, I was at the door. But then I saw Tom. His face was pale, shaking his head. My heart sunk. I dropped the vial and it clinked on the floor. He took one look at me and I knew. It felt like slow motion as I ran to her side. The heart monitor made its continuous beep to tell the world that yet another life had escaped.
I held my wife's hand. Tom leaned over to me and said that I had to go. I couldn't do it. I brushed her brown-black hair, whimpering like a lame dog. Her eyes stared forward. It wasn't like they showed in the movies. Her eyes still seemed to be alive to me. They didn't become glossy and I could still feel the life in her. I could feel that she wasn't ready to go. Later I would hate myself for ever thinking that there was still a spark of life in her. Dead is dead, there is nothing more or less.

I woke up in my house, my wound itching, Probably infected. It was warm though, which was better than how I was feeling before. I was also in a wrap. My mind was still hazy, but I knew this wasn't quiet right. I blinked trying to piece it together and then I remembered what happened. I sat up in fear, regretting that decision as my body brutally reminded me that there was a gouge in me. I glanced back and forth for danger, and there I saw Tom. He was talking with another man, who had tattoos all over his body.
“Tom?” He started when he heard that from me and left the man standing on his own and went over to me.
“I got your call and saw the tracks in the snow, looks like you were being chased. What happened to you? What is this wound here? It looks like an animal attacked you.” The man behind him placed a hand on Tom's shoulder. “Too many questions, just woke.” I nodded my thanks to the stranger.
“Tom, I did something horribly wrong. I did the impossible. God, I created an abomination! Tom, maybe I should have let her, rather... it, kill me.” He wasn't understanding me, I could tell. I realized I wasn't actually saying anything about what happened. My heart was racing. I tried to get up, “We have to stop her. Mary....”
“Mary's dead.” I gulped.
“Not anymore.” The snow fluttered against the window stronger. I could have sworn I saw a figure walk by. My imagination was going to my head. Tom got up and patted my shoulder. “Its okay Tom, you have been through a lot these days. Its natural that you-”\
“There is nothing natural about this! When I used the vial on her after everyone left, it. It. It did something. Something wrong.” The tattooed man sat me down now. “What exactly did you see?”

“When I did it, she breathed in and out, the heart monitor went on and then it was all done. She was dead again. So, I of course researched it. For months I calculated how much I would need, practiced on rats. But, it wasn't working right on them. And I knew if I didn't have the formula exactly right to revive Mary, then maybe I could bring her back. Tom, I needed a body.”
“It had been two months since her death and I thought I had it right, but the rats weren't giving the right result. When I injected the dead rats with it, they came back but completely crazy. They would charge at the others, and one even got out and bit another before collapsing, dead once more. I studied this, taking calculated notes. I had no sympathy. I didn't care about these rats, nor anyone in my life. I locked myself in the lab for days, occasionally getting a pizza delivery to eat. It was like I died with my wife, and this was my way back.
“My unborn child. I knew God hated me then. I knew in my heart, somewhere, that playing with the laws between life and death was wrong. But I knew I wanted to. I wanted to prove Him wrong! I wanted Him to pay for what had happened in my life! I had such a strong hate for everything in this world that it lead me to do my next vile act.
“I had already broken into the morgue once to retrieve my wife's body, so a second time was just as easy. I stole the body of a man, thinking that my formula would work better on a human test subject. I set him down on my test table, and checked my concoction one more time. There was very little left of the plant samples, and I prayed...no, no I didn't pray. I hoped? I don't know, but I know my eyes must have been gleaming with joy and hope. I grabbed the syringe and plunged into the dead corpse. It jolted to live with violent spasms and gasping for air. The eyes twitched around, hunting for something. It screamed like a newborn baby, the sound reverberating off of all the walls. Out of instinct I said “Shhhhh!” His neck twisted to make his head face me. There was no life in his eyes. It was like the man was missing from the body. The thing jumped with alarming speed towards me. I screamed and jumped of the way. It landed right behind me, skidding on the tile floor of the Duke hospital. I scrambled backwards trying to stand. Its flesh was still grayish white, like an uncooked turkey left out too long. It seemed confused as to why I wasn't caught. It reminded me of my old dog, whenever I tricked him by pretending to throw a tennis ball. It licked the spot I was at, which made me realize something. It must not be able to see! I held my breath and tried to get to the door. The door was right behind the living corpse. I almost muttered a curse. Moving as silently as possible, I moved along the edge of the wall.
“The creature now rubbed its eyes, sitting with its legs sprawled out in odd angles. Extremely odd angles. If a normal human being had done that, tendons would have ripped, which I deeply hoped was true, because a plan was forming in my head. Once I got about next to him, I would throw something in a different direction, and go for the door as it lunged there.

“It turned and blinked at me, its eyes now more close to normal. The irises gained a yellowish hue to them and the pupils were so tight that it was hard to see any black, but then they widened. I knew my plan had failed. It lurched toward me, but I was correct about it having a limp which I took advantage from and ran. I raced down the pale lit hallway, glancing over my shoulder as I flew. It seemed to not notice the pain and continue on towards me at almost full force. My heart was pounding louder than my feet were. I noticed an IV stand with some plasma in its plastic bag. I grabbed it and turned around to face it.
“It leaped in the air, its eyes boring into my soul like two yellow warning lights. This was my chance. I knelt down to brace myself in that microsecond, holding the IV stand like a spear. The weapon pierced through the creatures skull from the underside of its neck. Blood spurted out and covered my white doctors jacket. I was in shock. I sat there for about an hour, expecting it to move again.
“Nothing happened. No last shudder or quiver, no last cannibalistic scream. It was just a man again, a dead body without any hint of life. I had two do something quickly about this. I realized I was using doctors gloves the whole time so there were no fingerprints. That was good. I checked for security cameras. None, this side of the hospital had no cameras because it is all being remodeled. I apparently could get away with this. And I did.
“This incident did not stop me from trying to bring back my wife. Nothing could. Those eyes may have been my warning sign from God, but I chose to ignore it. I knew I was so close. So close for find a cure to death. Death was the disease that plagued humanity. I knew it then. I wanted my perfect life back, and the only way that my life could be safe is if death did not loom around the corner. I guess, as I think about it now, I was more afraid of death than sad of my wife's death. It sounds horrible but its true. Her death showed me that life is not perfect and death was the thing that waited for everyone. She showed my own mortality. How could she leave me with this knowledge? I was utterly alone with this knowledge and fear, everyone else seemed so happy. They had it in the back of their mind, so far back that they could function. I wondered how I used to do that? Be so... happy?
“Another month had passed and I was almost positive that the formula had been perfected. I needed another body again, but by this time the morgue had new security because of the recent fire that was started by some crazy man who said that he could feel a curse there. I paced back and forth in my office, trying to figure out a new way to get a body. It was 9 o'clock in the evening. I counted the steps I took around my office until I could think of something. No time for that, because thats when I smelled the smoke. The fire alarm pierced my ears like a knife was stuck down each one. I heard some of the patients scream as the doctors and nurses wheeled them out of the building in a safe and orderly fashion. I saw the light of the fire from down the hall, the smoke billowing from its creator.

“It was from the shut down part of the hospital.

“I ran over there as fast as I could, coughing out the smoke I was sucking in. I flung open the doors to where I had my dear sweet Mary in hiding. I could hear a man in the distance screaming in some foreign language. The fire grew stronger and the heat made me sluggish. I could barely hold my wife and the serum that I had created. I heaved her onto my back and tried to get to the exit, but a part of the ceiling fell down in front of me. I screamed and yelled but no good came of it. I was surrounded by the licking flames and was going to die, and I fell to my knees and gently placed her body on the floor. My mind drifted out of existence for a moment and I was speaking to her.

“'Mary. Its been so hard without you, why did you leave me?' She smiled at me, snuggled up close to me and whispered, 'You always knew what to do, just do what is right.' I wept in her arms. Her dead arms. I took the formula, and injected it in her arm. The light of the fire was blinding me and I was unable to breathe. I passed out.

“I woke up at my house, just like now. I checked my watch to see what time it was and it was 11 at night. My heart started to race as I remembered what had happened. Oh my God, I thought, I had injected her! She might have turned into that thing! I was panicking and was about to get up, but I winced at that and lay back down on the couch in a fit of coughing. The taste of soot wasn't going to leave me for awhile. I quickly got up and looked around. In the kitchen I saw her.

“'Mary?' I called out, ready to flee.

“There has been no moment like the suspense of her turning. Adrenaline coursed through my veins. My stomach began to drop like an elevator without brakes. My heart had stopped. I couldn't breathe. Nothing was working. My eyes were glued to this women who looked like my wife. She turned toward me, so that I wasn't looking at the back of her head anymore. Then her eyes met mine. They were still blue.

“Such a sigh of relief came over me when I saw that. I ran over to her. Her skin was pale and grayed, she smelled of death but still I told myself I had cured her. What lies men can tell themselves to convince them of happiness. She didn't reacted to me at all. She was like an ice cube or a frozen stone. I began to shake with worry. 'Mary! Mary, what is it? Do you know who I am? Mary, its me! You have been with me for so many years. We are married. We got married in the Botanical Gardens at Duke. You live in North Carolina. Do you remember me at all? Our child?...' She looked down at her stomach. Her eyes were so sad. 'I was happy there. I was with our child there. You took me from that place.' Her jerked up as if it was on a string. 'You have done wrong, I shouldn't be here.' I began to shake my head, tears pouring out of me like waterfalls. 'No, Mary, no no no no. Don't say this. You belong here. You were taken too soon! Too fucking soon! Don't say that you should be here! I need you here, with me. Don't you want to be with me?' I was desperate, my voiced cracked as I spoke those words. How could she say this to me? I spent so much time, so many nights sacrificed for her! For her! I backed away slowly from her, I couldn't even think. Her eyes followed me. That's when I saw the change. Her pupils began to grow. 'No no no no no no no, don't do this.' She blinked and they were that sickly color. 'Oh God.' I whispered. She charged at me.

“So is that when we found you?” the tattooed man said. I nodded. “She got me good also.” I looked at my wound. It stung like hell. The edges were blackened where she had scratched me. Three inches around the cuts it was turning grayish. I didn't understand what that was, I hadn't seen anything like it before. There was something about this mans voice that I recognized. That accent.

“Whats your name?” I asked the man. He glanced over at Tom, raising an eyebrow. Tom nodded, “He might as well know, not like he has much time left anyways.”

“Tom? What do you mean time? Whats going on? Who is this guy and why do you know him. What aren't you telling me?” Tom shook his head.

“Look you gotta understand, I am trying to help you.” I got up, despite the pain and paced around. The tattooed man put a hand on my shoulder, “I suggest you sit down for what I am going to tell you. You have released a virus that can not be undone easily. Only the Almighty One can protect us from what is about to come.” I shook my head. “No, there is no virus, I examined that plant over a thousand times and I know that it has no virus within it. No microbes or cells that can affect people in a negative way.”

“Your instruments aren't advanced enough to fully understand the potential of this plant. When you injected it into her, she lived for a moment, then became mindless. If she attacks another human, the world is in peril. You have let loose the nzambi virus.” My head was spinning and I sat down. I didn't know what this virus was, I didn't understand why this was happening. I was feeling so cold. I clutched my legs to me while I sat on the couch. The tattooed man continued speaking, “I am from the country where this plant came from, I am the one who burned your precious place of the dead, I burned your precious hospital.” I looked toward Tom. “You knew about this?”

“Yes. This man is the shaman of the tribe who approached me after the plant had already arrived to tell me about its properties. He showed me what you were doing. I can't explain how he knew, its like God led him here. I saw that thing attack you a month ago. I can't believe you never mentioned anything about this to me. I am your friend!” I shivered violently now and started hacking. “Tom, I was just trying to bring her back. You know what Mary meant to me. You shouldn't have stopped me. I was almost there. So damn close.” The shaman felt my forehead. I would have smacked his hand away except it was so warm in comparison to myself. His face turned into a scowl.

“I need to see if I can bring him out of this.” My vision began to blur. Voices floated in my ears at their own pace and I didn't know what I was hearing. Candles, incense, dancing? I couldn't make it out at all. The last words I heard were: “It didn't work.” When I heard this all I feel was hunger, no more pain of my wife, no more hate of Tom and this tattooed shaman, no more anything other than this unquenchable hunger to hurt and eat these two things. My pupils widened, I blinked, and I was no longer in my body.

Oh! Hello...

Ok, whoever the lonely soul is out there reading, hi.
I'm in a rut.

it sucks.

College?
Own business?
Senior Project.
Applications.
Job?
Girlfriend.

Her parents.
My emotions.

I kinda feel like I'm just floating in space, lots of pretty stars and suddenly one beautiful star grabs me, literally! Then all the other ugly stars; lets say asteroids made of mud; hit me one after the other and start punching me till I pay attention.
Like I said:
it sucks.
Anyways I need a job and I don't know how I feel about college. Kids in my class think I should go but.... My parents are cool if I go or not, but there is something in me, or maybe out there in the big wide world, that keeps tempting me to not go. Maybe I'm being lazy, or maybe college is the easy way out of actually dealing with life.
I need a job and maybe I can use that money to begin my own business PLUS the money from generous donations or investors or something. I am not sure what I wanna sell, but maybe that is the best option.

I need a job so maybe I can have more than just a high school relationship with the girl I'm in love with.
I think my first step is to get that damn job!
Go back to your lazy life whoever you are, I kinda wrote this for me to work through my thoughts so basically none of this makes sense to you, but feel free to check out my stuff on this blog! I fancy myself an artist so go ahead and look.

Enjoy your life!

Bye.

Alexander Wiley February 28 at 7:54pm

A Lover's Hell
by Alex Wiley

I stared at the night sky, hoping for something to happen, waiting and waiting for the stars to show their signs. My words slipped from my lips, filling the void in the dark field as the trees listened. I stayed in my circle, hoping that I could summon the one that stole her. At the last words fell from my lips like trickle of water; the stars burned. Each star in the night sky lit so bright like each sun, blinding me. I heard the voice of an angel, screaming from heaven on high, “She will not come back, do not go down this path!” The angel crashed to the earth, head bent down with its wings surrounding their body. White hair fell around her dark body, tattoos scaring its body. It was not human, not man nor women. It unfurled its wings, which dripped light. These were not wings like a bird, but rather ribbons, floating out from its back. Its eyes were purple, and poured into mine. “GOD does not care about your love, your being, your individuality. You are just a cog in a machine, turning your own little way. You should never evoke upon HIS NAME!” The last two words shook the ground, and the trees themselves cringed at its voice. I was terrified. But I stood up to my whole five feet, nine inches against this giant of a being, at least twice my height. I kept myself in the circle. “I want to see her! Bring my lover to me!” I screamed my command, but it laughed. The angel wrapped its wings around my circle, never crossing it. “Jack Nicholson you have no right to command an angel, and even if your “lover” was in heaven, I would never go against HIS will. He commands all and answers to none. Not even those with free will. I am a higher being than you, I once was human, I once had love, but I gave it all up because in the end, it achieves only pain. You cant find her on earth, and you will go to such lengths as to check heaven? Your blind, not even the brightness of GOD could give you light enough to see. Your lover is not who you think she is. She is not meant to be with you. She gave up on any path of light a long time ago.” I sat down, confused. “Not in heaven, but she was so... good.” The angel laughed. “Good? You are truly blind, humans must learn to see soon if they wish to live. Your lover was like fire, consuming and decimating, she was made from Hellfire.” I shook my head, “NO! I call upon the power of God to let me speak to her! I must bring her back, she never wanted to go!” The angel actually sat and and was beside itself with laughter now, an eerie laugh that would haunt my soul till this very day. “Check Hell for her sins against humanity.” It pushed a book to the edge, blew upon it and it glided into my circle. And with that she left, and the bright stars burst into light again, swallowing the angel.
I dropped my head into my hands, wondering how it is that she could be in Hell. Krystal Vale was not evil. The first day I met her I knew she was an angel. Her eyes were brown and green like a forest. I met her in a dance club....
“Hey Jack! See that girl over there?” I looked out into the crowd, still moving to the beat. Zack, punched my arm. “I'm gonna bone her!” I glared at him. Zack was a womanizer and to be honest I didn't know why I even said yes to this. I looked at the girl. Her eyes locked onto mine for s plit second, her blood red lips smiled at me and that made me say something to Zack I wasn't expecting. “Screw you Zack.” And I walked towards her. “Fuck ya then!” shouted Zack as I walked away.
Halloween dance parties are always fun, and I was wearing a vampire outfit. My black hair fit this well, but I felt a little weird in it. I walked straight up to her in her angel outfit and she giggled. What a laugh, she had a giggle that could melt the hearts of a thousand men. Especially mine. She smiled and said, “You gonna bite me?” she purred. I laughed, “Well I was planning to ask you to dance with me, but if you would rather that....” She smiled, “I'd like that.”
I looked at this book, made from what appeared to be leather. I opened it, and the stars went out.
The only light came from the letters themselves, each one glowed purple on the first page. “This book will bring her to you, Jack Nicholas.” The purple light was the angel. Then there was a little note that glowed for a moment. “You may want to rearrange your circle for the journey hell.” There was a new pattern, and I fixed it all. I turned the page.
The screams came with Hellfire raging around my circle, pain slipping around my circle and I saw a man wonder by burning. Then all went silent and I could hear my heart pounding in my chest. I was breathing fast, clutching my own chest. Then I heard another heart beating, outside my body. I looked at my chest and there was a whole, and my heart was just sitting, pumping itself, blood pouring from it. I screamed. Then there was an echo of laughter that surrounded me, and everything stopped. No flames, no screams, no heart beat, no blood. Smoke poured in from all sides, slowly, smelling of sulfur. “Rise.” I was so scared, I did it. I stood up and called out. “Come out you demons of hell, I command you to do my bidding!”
A women, with cuts on her arms and heroin shot scars all over her, came out. She wore a mask. It was a smiling face, like a comedy mask, completely white. Her hair flowed in the air like it was underwater. She was naked and wrinkly. She had wings like the angel, but the ribbons that appeared from her back were dripping darkness. There was a spotlight on her from somewhere. She dragging her legs behind her as she crawled from the smoke. Behind her were the shades of men, being dragged behind her. She grabbed one and began to scratch his back with her clawed hands. I almost pissed myself, but I held my ground, no matter how giant she was. Her face was the size of my body.
“I knew you would be coming, always wanting her back. What was her name? Oh yes, Krystal Vale. Born in October 31st 1989 in a little town in Main yes?” I nodded. I looked into the book and flipped through it to find out this demons name. She continued speaking. “Now you believe she in Hell? Not much of a lover you are, assuming she is here. If you think she deserved such a fate as hell, where men like these,” She ripped an arm off the man she was scratching, “Are being tortured thus, then what does that say about you?” I struggled with the answer, “I was told she was here, I wish to take her back from your claws, you fucking disciple of Satan!” She uttered a wet giggle at that while chewing on that arm. “Look kiddo, Satan might be the first to come here, but lucky for us, we don't really have a hierarchy like heaven or humanity. We demons got a job to do, that's create chaos, destruction, mayhem, pandemonium, pain, hunger, greed. I am the demon of Lust. I am a God of my realm, and your pathetic GOD is to forgiving. Sure, wiping out the world was ok, but drowning is not that bad...” I cut her off. “I call upon you! Eroi, to go to the deepest levels of Hell and bring her here and speak to me!” She thought about, then through the men back into a fire pit that seemed to have appeared behind her. She answered. “No. Why should I do this for you?” I ignored her and began to read from the book. The words slipped out of me again. The demon screamed, shrieking at the words in torment. “Okay! OKAY! You fucking bastard! The way through hell is hard, lots of layers and realms and shit, I am going to need to know what her sin was.”
“Sin?” The demon glared at me from behind her mask. “Yeah, sin. You know, the things you have done that are bad that you haven't paid for in your life? What was she? Atheist or something, 'cause that aint a sin down here.” I thought about it. I didn't know. I told her that. She sighed.

“Kiddo, you were in love with someone you didn't know? That's funny. Oh well, I guess we are going to have to look in that head of yours.”
“How are you going to do that?”
She grumbled, “We are already in it, doofus. You think you were in Hell? Hell isn't a place on Earth, its not in the core, not in outer space. To tell you truth, Earth is mostly just in your head, you see a picture, you accept it as more than that, like look at this picture in your head.” She unfurled a giant picture of Krystal. I stared at her, my heart lightening. “See, you having feelings for the idea of her. You are in love with the idea of her. Even in a physical way.” The picture changed to her naked, in bed. My heart began to race and hormones began to rush around my body. I stopped myself though. “So are you saying that you can't bring her to me?” She laughed, “If I said that I would be lying, and I would rather like to gain your trust, then you might get to comfortable then-” Her black ribbons flowed forward around the circle, showing the dripping darkness was in fact blood mixed with filth, the smell making my gag. “-I would kill you.” Her words sent shivers down my spine. Her mask just kept smiling at me, as if she were innocent. I knew better. “Can you or can't you?”
“I can, but she will only be in your head, I can't take her out of Hell. Only HE can do that. But I need more, information. Lets poke around in your memory now.”
“Okay, uhh, ask me something.”
“How did you meet?”
“It was in a dance club, my college Zack spotted her, and then I went up to her and danced.”
“Continue, maybe I can see what you in your blindness can't see.”
“Well, so we were dancing. It was lots of fun, her little angel wings jiggled around a lot, it was fun to watch.”
“I'll bet you were looking at some other things jiggling.” her laugh was by far the most grotesque thing ever. She rolled on her back and watched me upside down with her arms under her head. “Continue you horny bastard, we all know you were thinking that, not wings. Don't worry, your not coming to my neck of Hell for looking at her boobs.” I glared. “Anyways there I was. Dancing. We stopped to get a beer. She grabbed my hand and we head to the bar. The bartender was kinda weird. He gave us two free beers then left really fast. So we were talking and I was telling her about myself, I asked her about herself but she kinda deflected it. I didn't really care too much though. Sometimes people are like that.”
Eroi tsked at me. “Okay, lets watch it from another angle, Jack.” Curtains drew back in my mind and we watched a play.
Jack was dancing horribly with a sexy angel. They were enjoying the beat. The girl dressed as an angel giggled then pulled on his arm toward a bar. The bartender, who was a tall blond Russian man, screamed at the site of her, his face distorting for his sins. “He was cheating on his wife, by the way, boy that was a mistake.” He shakily gave two beers, then ran out screaming and clutching his heart. He fell of the stage, dead. The curtains closed and the body was dragged back in by two shades, one was missing an arm. I recognized him as the one she was scratching before.
“Good show huh? Pretty revealing right? I think that she might have been the hottest demon in awhile. Well, besides me of course.” She grabbed her breasts and squeezed them. “You want some, Jack? Just step outside the circle.” I shook his head at this ugly giantess. “No way in Hell.” She smiled, or gave the impression she was, it was hard to tell because of the mask. “Your loss, your are kinda cute though, I can see why she might have fallen for you. But I should let you know, that demons don't love.”
“I dont think you understood. There is no way in HELL that she could be a demon! Stop lieing to me, you monster, and bring her to me this instant!” She sighed. “Are you sure you even want to? Let me tell you what she has done first.”
“NO! I don't-”
The scene changed, darkness faded to landscape of an orgy. Piles of people having sex and ontop of all of them was a woman, Krystal, whose eyes glowed red and she wore anothing. Her black ribbons potruded from her back and she was cutting into the pile of men and women bellow. Screams of pain and pleasure groaned from them when they were cut, and she grabbed one of the men and began to torture him slowly. I gasped in horror. Eroi, who lay next to me and was watching this to was laughing. “She was brilliant, she took a church and forced them to do this. Oh, they are going to Hell for not doing Gods will and giving into her seduction. Mmmm.” I turned away, not wanting to see this. “This is NOT real, you are messing with my head. I dont believe in any of this at all! You lie! You are a piece of fucking shit for showing me this! I will never believe in this, Krystal couldn't do this! She hated violence she said, when I ran over a snake by accident she yelled at me for my actions! There is no way that she could be like this.” I was crying now, “Never, not my Krystal. Oh my God... those people. What happened to them?” I regreted asking that. The scene melted away and it showed the man she had tortured. He was skinning himself, against his own will. He was screaming at his own hands. The knife went down to his-.
I looked away from this one two, screaming for this man as he cut into himself. The pain in his shrieks pierced my heart like a knife, cutting me deep and letting my heart spill out. I felt his pain. Oh God I felt his pain, my own hand began to claw at ears, my skin being shredded. I screamed and cried in anguish, fuck this! It hurts! I can't take this shit! Eroi snapped her fingers, and the scene vanished, and I remained twitching for a few minutes.
“Once more, I'll ask. You sure you want to meet your girlfriend now?” I gulped. “I dont...believe...that what you showed was...real.” She sighed, “Look kiddo, I'm trying to help you out but if you don't believe me, ask them.” She pointed to two men. The bartender and the angel. The angel glowed like hope in this dark place, its eyes glowed a sad purple. “I gave to much help this time. I wanted to warm you Jack, but your not supposed to be involved with unearthly affairs, I tried to save you by taking her away. She is all that Eroi showed you.” Then the angel faded away. The bartender came forth.
“I am summoned to you for one purpose, to tell you the Truth. I coveted my neighbors wife, cheating on my own. Lust took control of me. I felt something that I thought was love, but I now know it was eroticism. Fake love. What you feel, I believe is real. But you CAN'T have feelings for this monster. She is ugly, her skin is as dead as the feelings that I thought I had for my neighbors wife. She represents falsity upon her face. You can not love that demon.”
“But I do! Everything that she was around me is different than anything you have shown me. I love her with all my heart, She was funny, she showed love for me, we cared for each other more than I have for anyone. I love for all the little things, like she once wrote me a letter just for the fun of it. I love her ideas. Bartender, you maybe right, and I am beginning to believe you, but I love her still for who she was with me. Not for her past sins.”
“You should not forgive someone like that! Jack, I have seen you often in my bar, alone and hopeless, and you'll be happier lonely than with her! Trust me.”
“Never. I have never been happier than being in love with her!” I am in Love with her.”
“I see that now. Here, drink this and you will become separated from your body and you can travel to Hell and speak to her.”
I took it from his hands, and I was poisoned. The bartender laughed and laughed and I became woozy. The angel came to me while I lay in my circle dieing. “Love is honorable, but go back now, you can not meet her. You must leave or you will die for nothing, a demon.” I shook my head.
“I already met her.” I spat out some blood. “Eroi!” I croaked loudly. She came to me, her face to mine, her mask still on. I reached up, and took it off. Her face was broken, skin dieing. I shook me head. “Krystal, I know its you. You have given me love, which I never knew, and I thank you.” I kissed her, then died.