by Drue M Scott
Entirely consumed by the recollection, Mikale sat motionless. It all felt like a movie in his mind that, regardless of how he tried to block it from taking over, could not be turned off. It was a hazy day, which doesn’t happen often in San Francisco, and that fact felt like it added to the moment. It was the same city it had always been, but the day was just a bit different. Jason was taking Mikale on a road trip. It wasn’t a long one, just a simple outing to escape the hustle and bustle of the city for a few hours and enjoy some alone time. They had stopped at a gas station somewhere past the city limits in an area that, for all his efforts, Mikale did not recognize. By all looks of the situation, Jason didn’t know it either. He had pulled up on the wrong side of the pumps, circled around twice to get the car lined up right, and was now fumbling for his wallet as he tried to exit the car. When he was awkward, he was truly and adorably awkward. This, too, wasn’t often.
“Do you want a drink or something? Water, maybe?” Jason questioned leaning over peeking back into the vehicle. “I’m getting a Coke.” His matter-of-fact statement caused a twinkle in his eye. He always lit up at the idea of an ice cold Coke. For the most part, both of them had given up sodas and sugary drinks, or rather were trying to, and when he allowed himself to have one—guilt free—the pleasure he got from it was readily apparent. With his child-like grin, he threw the door closed and nearly pranced his way towards the Stop-n-Shop. Mikale giggled to himself, how he loved when Jason was silly. Roughly half way to the swinging doors of the over-priced junk food market, Jason swung back abruptly. His loose, green shirt billowed slightly from the breeze and his swift turn. Bouncing back to the car, he signaled Mikale to lower his window. Opening the car door, the engine was off, after all, and the electric windows only worked when the ignition was on, Mikale twisted his body in the seat to lean out.
“What’s up?”
“I didn’t wait for your answer. Did you want something?” He laughed at his own forgetfulness.
“I’ll have a Coke, too.” Mikale smiled.
Appearing as though he were dancing, Jason pivoted on his heels and turned back towards the Stop-n-Shop. The distance between the car and the front doors of the store was not far, and it was easy for everyone inside to see Jason’s comical movements. Clearly, he didn’t care. Laughing, Mikale shook his head and whispered, “I love you.” He wasn’t saying it for anyone to hear; he could barely hear it himself, but the emotion was so strong the words just formed without effort. Almost as though he had heard the words his dearest love had spoken, Jason circled around, again. Puzzled Mikale sat quizzically. As Jason approached, his previous smile widened and it really showed his innocence. It had always been a quality that Mikale found irresistible. Opening the door again, he chuckled.
“What did you forget this time?”
“Only this,” Jason plainly stated as fact and leaned into the car to kiss his love. When their lips touched the purest form of emotional excitement filled Mikale. His heart felt like it could burst into a million pieces exploding from being over-filled with joy. “Love you I!” The mixed-up words blurted out as a declaration to the world. His metallic green eyes and the flecks of light that regularly filled them, sparked with intensity. Jason shook his head and giggled. “I meant, I. Love. You.”
He was unsure why, but a single tear swelled up and raced down Mikale’s face. He couldn’t speak. It felt like every word in the known world of languages would be insufficient; how could he possibly say anything to the man he loved that would equal the power of the words he just heard?
“What’s wrong, babe?” Jason tilted his head in concerned inquiry. Intently focused on Mikale’s deep blue eyes that glimmered under the sheen of fresh tears threatening to spill over, he leaned in further.
“Nothing is wrong,” the emotion in his voice was evident. Mikale was never really able to hide what he felt. “I just love you so very much.” Cracking a smile and speedily wiping his face free of any dampness from tears, Mikale sat up more firmly in his seat.
“I know.” Jason grinned shyly before kissing Mikale’s forehead. Swinging his body clear of the door as he closed it, he kissed his fingers and placed them to the window. It all appeared as a ballet; fluid and purposeful.
He always moves with such beauty. Mikale smiled.
As he reached the doors to the gas station market, Jason turned back for a fleeting moment. His hesitation in that instant was the universe solidifying what Mikale had always known in his heart; this was the man he would always love. Jason mouthed the words “I love you” as he disappeared into the harsh fluorescent lighting of the store. The door closed just slow enough to seem thematic in some way. Jason’s baggy, dark blue jeans and over-sized, green shirt blurred behind the dirty glass. Another tear threatened to spill over, but Mikale caught it up with his index finger before it could race down his cheek.
“Love you I,” he spoke out as a whisper wiping his finger to his faded blue denim. The tear he deposited there left the smallest darkened spot on the material which drew in his full attention; he was transfixed. “Love. You. I.” Much slower he repeated the words letting each one sink deeper into the flutter of butterflies in his chest.
Sitting solitary on the beach, Mikale wanted to cry recalling the memory, or at least his body wanted him to do so, but no tears filled his eyes. He couldn’t remember having ever felt this way. So completely filled with joy yet over-flowing with the greatest of sorrows he had ever known. Death at this point to him, at least, felt like the perfect ending. He could not imagine a life that had to continue enduring such grief, but if he were to pass at this moment into whatever afterlife there might be, the joy he felt was a perfect send off. He had known true love. Was there anything more in life that could possibly compare?
Time had clearly run away from him, and it felt imperative that he return home. The reasons behind it or the understanding of what he felt he might do upon arriving home escaped his thoughts though. It was a robotic movement of uninitiated action. Letting his knees go, shifting his weight to leverage himself from the sand, and erecting his spine while firing off the muscles in his thighs. He simply rose to his full five foot ten inches as though the air around him called him to do so. Greeting him, as he stood, was a face, a man, but no one was there. Was he so far gone now that he had begun seeing things? The face he thought he saw was kind. It was handsome. It seemed friendly but heavy laden at the same time.
Pondering the idea of going crazy, somewhat concerned that he was losing track of time, and distressed over the idea that suicide somehow made sense to him, Mikale felt ramped up. He was aware of his senses, but they felt shared. He was no longer lonely. Before he could assign truth to what he felt, an unexpected stinging sensation of cold ripped through his body. Shaking himself aware, he found he was several steps out into the water. The “hows” and the “what fors” did not present themselves, just the icy sensation of chills flashing up and down his body.
“I could’ve told you the water was cold.” The sarcastic response blurted out of him before he even realized what he was saying. For all his efforts though, he couldn’t decide if he’d actually said the words or they were only in his thoughts. How am I out here?
“So you can hear me.” Brennan’s surprised voice sent chills through Mikale.
The Devil is in the Details
“Lookie, Lookie, when I talk; Listen you must. I’ve a great deal of explaining, and you seem lost.” Devin’s bizarre rhyming words threatened to bring a real physical sickness to Vevila. She had run into him a few times since Stewart’s preoccupation with his new charge, but this time he seemed much different, more menacing. So many years had passed since she had reconstituted her soul with her mentor that few things—if any—roused her sense of unease, but Devin struck a chord within her that felt frighteningly apocalyptic. Many of her years when she was fully flesh were spent fighting against the norm and pushing back against society’s ideas of “fitting-in” that she almost respected the thought of disturbi
ng the status quo. Devin’s dark and menacing persona was something altogether different.
“I’ve tasted life, love, and all the boring shit; I think it’s time I take control over all of it.” Continuing, Devin moved in tight to Vevila; his dark suit matched the black sheen of his slicked back hair. His shark-like teeth and dark red tongue appeared like a predator’s after consuming a fresh kill. The room, in which they stood, was covered in shadow; a hue-less color darker than the Joy Division shirt she wore. The simple black shirt was her favorite. It was one she frequently manifested in her appearance since she had become a complete soul again. Though she had not reached the ability to take corporeal form, she imagined the way the shirt used to feel when she wore it. It kept her connected to the physical world. Always a fan of the alternative scene, she frequently wore whatever pleased her regardless of what was actually popular. Unaware of how she had come to be in such a foreboding environment and why this once squirrely man had become so powerful set her energy on edge.
“Must you speak that way?” She murmured hesitantly. A weight upon her energy made it difficult to converse. “You’re right, I am lost, and your indirect approach is both angering and pointless.” Her airy voice unable to continue, she fell silent. The only remaining sound was Devin’s breath and the oozing black substance that started to leak down from the walls. The room was so dark nothing held much color, but the red of Devin’s necktie and the gore, which seemed to spill from his mouth, were vibrant and stomach turning.
“Impatience will not get you any closer to the answers you seek. They think they are strong, but I protest; they are WEAK!” The sudden violent change in the tone of his voice made Devin sound like a monster made of every foul beast Vevila could imagine. Resonating in her mind as an echo of a choir of demons, she tried to block out his voice, but his strength overpowered her. She knew of only a few ways that power could be amassed so quickly, and none of them were particularly kind. Nor did they do anything to keep the balance of the universe in sync. Her fear and pain rippled out from her trapped life-force.
“Please. I’ve no idea what you are talking about.”
“Very well, since you ask so sweetly. I will detail my plan most completely.” Fire erupted from behind Devin’s head and swallowed him whole. The heat was something Vevila could imagine would be painful if she were a physical form. With so many years having passed since last she felt, in any traditional sense of the word, she had almost forgotten what it was. The oozing walls began pouring out the black substance faster. It was as dark as oil and as thick as cold syrup. Devin’s self-fire spread quickly, covering the entire room. Vevila stood solitary among the flames. None of them touched her, but they were close enough to pull at her energy, lapping at her essence as hungry hellhounds. Her own frustration and fear swelled up inside her, and with little respect for the unknown heights to which Devin’s power had soared, she spoke with impatience.
“Are you going to explain or are you going to…?” Interrupted by a sudden splash of the flames as they reached out and swirled up within her entity, Vevila was struck with a painful realization; they burned. Quite instantly, she regretted speaking with such aggravation in her voice. Hotter than anything she could remember when she was alive, it burned. As a thousand suns blistering the skin, it felt like her whole existence was boiling. The shock of being able to feel, snatched a painful scream from her life-force. The oddity of screaming with no vocal chords was something rarely ever overlooked. It appeared as a rippling disruption to one’s entity, but it carried an audible sound that, if heard by human ears, resembled the prolonged screech from an eagle. It could frazzle the strongest of nerves and break through the sturdiest of mind blocks.
“Sucks, doesn’t it? Feeling the things we hate. But from my perspective, I think it’s kind of great.” Devin flashed back into existence in front of Vevila wearing only his red tie and shark-tooth smile. “I will make it stop when I feel a lesson you have learned. Some respect you must show, or else your life I will burn” Skin from his naked body melted away sporadically and re-formed almost instantly. Each liquid wound revealed bloody muscle and bone beneath. The sight sickened Vevila, but pain prevented her from thinking about little else.
“I am sorry. Please, make it stop,” she begged trying to hold back another scream.
“Very well.” Quicker than it had started, the fire ceased to be, and the walls cleared completely of the dark goo. Devin’s eyes flashed multi-colored hues as his black-on-black suit materialized over his bare flesh. Though he was well developed, something quite opposite of his previous form, his toned and muscular body held no visual pleasantness for Vevila. Aside from his ever-changing eye shade, the only color to his entirety was that damned necktie that matched perfectly the blood-stained mouth he spewed his evil words from. “Come,” he gestured with a flick of his hand as he turned. Walking into and through the wall, the whole environment shifted to a park bench on the outskirts of a clearing. It was a beautiful day as evidenced by all the people picnicking and playing. By the looks of it, they were in a southern city within North America, and it was early fall. Green was still the predominant color of the vegetation, but the brisk evenings had left their tell-tale signs upon the leaves. Soon bright oranges, yellows, and reds would cover the trees. The ease, with which Devin had transported them, scared Vevila almost more than the fire and dark room. It wasn’t so much the instantaneousness of their transportation; she had witnessed that with Kyna. It was more related to how speedily he had arrived at the ability to execute such skill. In one of her other encounters with him, she could remember Devin speaking much more softly and less threateningly. He had been a lanky man, much like her, in that he was skinny with thin limbs, but now, he was something far removed from that appearance. She could remember the oddity of him as he sat explaining to her that he had found a way to become the devil. Could he have? Her mind took off briefly wondering. Vevila was certain that there was no god and there was no devil, there was only life-energy; but how had he changed so greatly since last seeing him? The universe was full of impulses, living and non-living, and it maintained a delicate balance between positive and negative. This was something she felt with some certainty. There was no all-powerful good, and there was certainly no all-powerful evil. At least, that is what she could faintly recall Stewart explaining, and at the time, it felt like truth to her. Simply due to her limited understanding back then and her trust of her then mentor, she had ignored Devin’s words; his words now, however, had a much stronger resonance within her. She was truly frightened.
“Did I not warn you before? Did I not explain? I am becoming. Of this, it should be plain.” Sitting them firmly to the park bench, Devin continued slowly fading off from rhyming as he spoke. “I wish for you to understand before it all goes south. For you to hear the words, I speak from my own mouth. I have a plan and in it you play an important part. Admittedly, the only reason I chose you is because, well… you’re the easiest and most obvious choice. Besides, that red-headed Irish boy that Stewart killed and now begs the forgiveness of, you are Stewart’s only charge. The only one he has any focus on. I’ve taken them all: each spirit, each conscience, every one of them he has ever touched. He and Kyna have not even noticed. All the hate and confusion and fear that powered their pathetic entities, I have consumed. Once they were their own desires, their own ideas, but now, I have twisted them into my being, and they are no longer them; they are me.” His words seemed to become heavier as he spoke. Vevila’s fear increased and added panic to her energy. Something she knew Devin could detect, but she didn’t know how to curb it. “Kyna feels this great shift, yet she is wrapped up in longing for her love, and he is consumed by guilt for his past transgressions; the two are blind. They are a frightful pair of destined lovers doomed to never achieve more than passing glances and heartfelt smiles. Quite honestly, I think I might cry.” Crossing his right leg over his left, Devin brushed Vevila’s leg with his foot. The momentary energy convergence stung her being. A
guttural sensation of gore and mayhem overtook her senses for a time, and Devin reveled in the pain it caused. “Are you understanding now the depths of my depravity? The hate and death and sorrow and blood I will unleash upon this fucking world?” His grisly smile widened with each movement of his foot across her energy field. “I need Kyna to cease to exist here on Earth. I dare not challenge my abilities in an attempt to consume her and integrate her into myself, but if she were dispersed, well, that would be quite to my liking. I need only the right catalyst to set into motion a world without balance, a world without Stewart having the love of her.” Vevila shifted herself away from Devin as much as she could without being painfully obvious of her intention. “I’ve found Brennan’s other half and boy, is he in for a surprise.” His smile widened even further spilling forth blood from his mouth that disappeared before staining his perfectly pressed suit and tie. “I’ve put so many pieces into play that will undoubtedly culminate in an explosive way. I doubt even I can predict exactly how crazy this will end. Though I must say, I long for the day.”