“It can’t be you.” Tears threatened.
He leered at her, and a red forked tongue slid out from between his lips.
“If you don’t kill Jeremy, I will kill you,” he said and let out a rich baritone laugh.
“Why would you kill me? I thought you needed me?”
He blinked at her, and she realized his pupils were like cat’s eyes. Or a snake. His expression suggested she’d asked a stupid question. “Because I can,” he said finally.
Alex found the strength to turn her head. Jeremy was over by an area filled with scrubby bushes. He poked around, trying to find her. This was it. Kill him or be killed. Why couldn’t she run away and hide? Find the doctor and make him take the demon and all his shite away. Jeremy leaned over and pushed two bushes apart. She fancied she heard him call her name. Dear sweet Jeremy. Then she remembered the cloud of blue smoke now surrounding him. He wasn’t looking for her to help her. His plan was to murder her. Clive, still hovering above her, nodded as if in confirmation to her thoughts.
“I can’t kill him!” she wailed. “Please don’t make me.”
“This is my last warning. Kill him now or I will kill you where you lie!” the demon bellowed the words at her.
His skin shimmered, and she wondered for a moment if there was a worse form he could take. He reached out and pinned her to the ground with one clawed hand. Heat so intense she thought she might faint filled her body. “Kill him!” Clive shouted. “Kill him now or I kill you!” His claws curled into her flesh, the sharp tips digging in.
She almost let him. Better to be killed than become a murderer. An idea began to form in her mind, a horrible murderous thought. It made her feel sick.
“Oh yes, I see what you think. Do it Alex. It’s the only way to stay alive. If I don’t get you, the other Podis will later. Take your pick.” He loosened his grasp on her, and flew higher. “I’ll rip your heart out and you’ll be in purgatory forever, but the Podis … they can do things that would make you suffer far more.” He grinned, his forked tongue flickering out.
“No, please no. I don’t want to!”
“Jeremy planned to dump you at the doctors. Get you on pills to neuter your sight. Then he was going to pay a visit to your mother. Take a bottle of wine, get her drunk and then infect her feeble mind.” He hovered closer. “If you want to save the drunk, pull your bloody socks up and start being proactive. Kill Jeremy!” He boomed the last two words at her.
Alex rolled over and got onto her knees, her back to the vile vision of the demon. Still hid behind the oil drum, Alex checked on Jeremy. He was over in the scrub searching for her. Jeremy faced away from her. This was it, her perfect time. Her breath hitched as she realized what she was about to do. She jumped up and sprinted over to the minibus. Heart pounding nervously in her chest, she yanked the driver’s door open and checked for the keys. They dangled from the ignition where Jeremy had left them. Silently she thanked God, jumped into the seat and turned the key.
The engine flared into life. Jeremy would have heard the noise. She crunched into first and slammed her foot down on the accelerator. She spun the wheel and headed for the flaming barrel, at the last moment skidding around the obstacle, half-hoping Clive would still be there. That she’d hit him and he’d die or leave this dimension forever, and everything would go back to normal. She drew her sleeve across her face to clear the tears. The demon had gone. Left her to do the dirty work.
What was she about to do? Alex turned the minibus around, so she pointed towards Jeremy. Was she actually going to go through with this? What if she really was seeing things? She pulled at her jumper and found blood trails on her skin from where the demon’s claws cut into her. The injuries were real. He was real. Podis must be real, and Jeremy had been turned. Him or me. Yet raw terror filled her. Jeremy faced her, his head tilted to one side, maybe trying to figure out what she was going to do. If she drove off to the left, she’d be heading for the exit. He probably thought that’s where she’d go.
He glanced that way as if in confirmation, then started running towards her. He threw his hands in the air, shouting, “Alex, don’t!”
Alex blocked him out. She needed to concentrate. This had to be done right if she didn’t want him to suffer.
The minibus was still pegged in first, and she pushed the accelerator pedal down to the floor, making the engine scream. She waited until the last moment and lifted the clutch. The wheels squealed and the minibus took off. Jeremy stopped running. He stood in her way. Did he not realize she was heading right for him? A part of her screamed at him to move! Get out of the way! That didn’t stop her from hunching over, hands clutching the steering wheel so hard her knuckles had gone white. She popped the bus into second and then third. Foot still pressing the gas down to the floor.
Jeremy suddenly seemed to understand. He spun around and took off for the scrub. He’d realized too late.
Another gear change. She glanced down, she’d got the minibus up to fifty. Surely that would be enough.
What would happen when you hit a person? Alex had run over a pigeon once when Jeremy was teaching her how to drive. It was pecking something off the road, probably another dead bird. It was one of those large pigeons, the ones that crash around in trees, sounding like they’ll bring the branches down. She had squealed when she’d hit the bird, shocked at what a loud thump it’d made, then the feathers had puffed up and over the windscreen. For half a second, she realized this would be a million times worse.
He turned at the last moment, perhaps thinking this was a nightmare, or hoping she wasn’t the one behind the wheel. But then she closed her eyes. She didn’t want him to make eye contact with her. She guessed such an image would haunt her to her death. So she kept the last picture in her mind. Jeremy, half turned, almost looking at her. His accusatory and confused expression stuck forever whenever she thought of him. Didn’t he understand? Him—them, all the Podis or me, she thought. She tensed in the driver’s seat, face all screwed up, eyes squeezed shut as she prepared for impact.
And then she hit him.
The front of the minibus caught him square on. Alex figured he would go up and over the minibus, like she’d seen in those nasty drunk-driving adverts they show after the watershed. Instead he got sucked under the minibus. The wheels bounced the vehicle over him, slamming her about. She’d not put her seatbelt on and crashed first into the window beside her. She cried out. That was Jeremy. Her boyfriend, her lover. What had she done! The back wheels mounted him. She smashed into the steering wheel, winding herself. Gasping for air, she somehow got her foot off the accelerator and onto the brakes. The blood seemed to drain from her head, and for a moment, she thought she might vomit. The deed was done.
Alex turned the minibus off. Out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of movement. Someone approached the passenger door. She twitched, one hand still on the ignition, the other hand on the door handle, unsure of what to do.
She glimpsed a flash of red, and the familiar stuffed horns came into view. Clive had morphed back to his old self. The demon opened the door and jumped in.
“He’s still alive.”
“Still alive?” she asked. “What the hell do you mean?” She banged her forehead on the steering wheel. “Impossible. The tires bumped over him.” Alex replayed the moment she hit him in her mind. The last image of him, half-turned towards her. His confusion. The turbulence when the minibus mounted his body. She banged her head on the steering wheel again. What had she done?
“Yeah, sorry about this, honeybun. I just checked. He’s unconscious though, so he shouldn’t feel a thing.” Clive crossed his arms.
“What do you want me to do?” Her voice came out weak, almost unintelligible, even to her.
Clive clicked his tongue in his mouth. “You can be so stupid. Obviously you need to run him over again.”
“I can’t do it again,” Alex said. Her mind repeated the terrible thudding and thumping as she drove over the person who had once been t
he love of her life. Now the beast next to her wanted her to run him over again? “No!” she shouted. “You can’t make me. He’s hurt, because of me.” She leaned over the wheel and started sobbing. “This is all your fault.”
“I think you’ll find you drove the minibus, not me.”
“You made me. You hurt me.” She put a hand to her chest where the wounds throbbed. “I won’t run him over again.”
“Sweetcheeks, you will, and you know that already. Now be a good girl and stop pissing around. Go finish him off.” Clive pointed forwards.
“No!”
The demon leaned closer, and for a moment she thought he intended to kiss her. Then he slapped her hard. “You’ll do what I say.”
Alex backed up against the door and stared wide-eyed at Clive. “Wha—”
He hit her again, harder, and Alex tasted blood in her mouth.
“Don’t, don’t!” She shielded her hands with her arms and cowered against the door.
“Start the bus.” He sat back and buckled up.
Alex thought about all the things she should say, do. She did none of them and reached forward to turn the key in the ignition.
Reluctantly, Alex turned the minibus around so the vehicle pointed in Jeremy’s direction. His body lay sprawled out on the earth, all tangled and hurt.
“Do it!” Clive boomed. His image shimmered, and the real demon that lurked beneath the cat suit flashed before her. “Do it now!”
She stifled a sob and floored the pedal.
The minibus screeched forward. The wheels rammed him sooner than she expected. She hadn’t prepared herself, hadn’t braced for the hit. This was it. Her final act against him. The front wheels bumped over his body. The sound of crunching bones seemed to surround her. She screamed as the vehicle jolted about and something snapped loudly. Then the back wheels ran over him.
“No! I didn’t want to. I’m so sorry, Jeremy.” Alex turned the minibus off and jumped out before Clive could grab her. “I should never have … I’m so sorry, my love.” Tears coursed down her cheeks.
She sat down on the ground next to Jeremy. “I’m so sorry,” she repeated and reached over to stroke his hair. His face was miraculously unharmed, and his eyes stared up at her, an unblinking, unfocused sea-green. Below his neck, Jeremy’s body had been badly smashed. Blood pooled around him, mixing with the soil and staining her clothes. Alex didn’t care. Somehow the demon had made her do this. How could she have been so stupid? Here he lay, the proof she’d gone dangerously insane.
Alex ran her fingers gently over his face, letting his eyes burn into hers as the last puffs of blue dissipated. She began to sob. A knot grew in her stomach, a cold realization that Jeremy had gone forever.
“What did I do to you, Jeremy?” she sobbed. “I’m so sorry.” Alex touched her fingertips to his cooling lips. Footsteps came up behind her.
“Alex, you need to leave him here,” Clive said. He stopped behind her, hands on hips, and waited for a response.
“How can I leave him,” she replied. “He’s so defenseless.” Huge sobs escaped her. She started rocking back and forth, her chest heaving with huge shuddering breaths.
“He’s not defenseless, he’s dead,” said Clive. “Look, people will be coming soon. People coming to find out what happened.”
Clive waited for her to say something, anything. She didn’t care anymore. Let them take her. She did this, she killed Jeremy!
“Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Alex ignored Clive. She gently picked up Jeremy’s head and rested it in her lap. He shouldn’t have to lie on the bare soil. This wasn’t right. He deserved better. She wondered if there was a blanket in the minibus. Something to make him more comfortable. A drop of blood appeared from one nostril. She took a tissue from her pocket and dapped at his skin.
The demon rolled his eyes. “When they come, tell them some kid got in the minibus and ran Jeremy over.”
Clive tapped her on the shoulder. She didn’t pay him any attention. Alex was stroking Jeremy’s hair, making it tidy.
“They ran him over two times. Can you remember that Alex?”
Clive moved around to the other side of Jeremy and dipped down to try and make eye contact. Alex leaned further down over the body.
“Alex!” he shouted.
She finally glanced up. Why did he care? She wasn’t so important. This was important, what she’d done here, tonight. Her hands played restlessly with Jeremy’s hair.
“Alex, you and Jeremy got out of the minibus to talk. Someone snuck into the minibus and ran Jeremy over two times then the person ran off. You never saw his face because the headlights blinded you.” Clive dictated words for her to say. Why should she listen? Everything he did, everything he said, eventually led to something worse happening.
Alex’s face felt rubbery and unreal. Everything about her seemed to be like a dream world. Would she wake up soon? She focused on the demon. “Go away.” Her voice sounded so cold. Jeremy was cooling down. Soon he’d be cold. Because he was dead now. Alex locked eyes with the demon, waiting to see what he would do next. What could he do that was worse? She wished he’d get his claws out and slash her to pieces. Then she’d be dead, together, with Jeremy.
Clive blinked slowly, before turning away to stare across the car park. He fiddled with one of his horns as he appeared to think something through.
Finally he spoke up, “Okay, have it your way. But if you land yourself in jail it’s going to screw up a whole bunch of things, and my superior will eat me for lunch.”
“Fuck off,” Alex muttered.
“No, really, he loves a young demon roasted and salted and served with vegetables.”
Clive paced at the edge of her field of vision. She didn’t care what might or might not happen to him. Time her attention rested on Jeremy.
“Didn’t you hear me?” Alex caressed the side of Jeremy’s cheek where stubble grew. “I said: Fuck. Off.”
“Fine, have it your way,” said Clive, sounding hurt.
Alex looked up in time to find a puff of red smoke where Clive had been standing. As the mist he’d left behind began clearing, she noticed two figures running across the car park towards her.
Chapter Fourteen
An hour passed into infinity as Alex lay in a crumpled heap at Jeremy’s side. She felt as if she had wept rivers. When the paramedics arrived, they dragged her away screaming. Taken from Jeremy, she sat in the back of an ambulance, tears streaming uncontrollably down her face. A kindly man in a green paramedic’s uniform had wrapped her in a silver blanket before going to examine Jeremy. She guessed they only needed one glance to know he was beyond help. The radio kept screeching into life, startling Alex every time. The police were on their way. Would they guess? Would they know what she did?
“Alex,” asked the bearded paramedic. “How are you love, are you warm enough?” The night air was chilled by a wind that whipped the dry earth into little eddies. They skirted around the dead body of her boyfriend. The sharp sound of police sirens pierced her ears, and seconds later, a police car screamed up and parked beside the ambulance. Alex watched as the dust that clouded into the air settled like a shroud over Jeremy.
“Are you Alexandra Walker?” A man towered over her, notebook and pen in hand. He was joined by a female officer, who came and stood at her partner’s side. She smiled, but without warmth. She supposed they already thought she was guilty, and it was only a matter of minutes until they cuffed her and drove her away.
“Do you need some time? We’ve been told what happened,” said the WPC.
She left the other’s side to come and sit beside Alex. It took one touch, one hand on her shoulder for Alex to burst into fresh tears.
“Oh, sweetheart, I’m so sorry.”
The officer put an arm around Alex, patting her occasionally as she cried herself into hiccupping, body shaking shudders. The male officer stood silently, waiting.
A second paramedic, a short thin lady, appeare
d with a box of tissues. Alex gratefully took the box and gave a nod of her head as thanks. The shuddering and uncontrollable emotion began to pass, and she wiped clean her face.
The male officer cleared his throat. “As I said earlier, I am Officer Blakely and this is Officer Merrill. We’ve come to question you…”
His voice droned on in the background. Alex stared past him to the body of her boyfriend. She assumed they couldn’t move him so someone else could take evidence or something. The thought of other people touching Jeremy, poking him, cutting him open made her eyes well up again. He hadn’t deserved to die.
“Alexandra, are you listening?” Officer Merrill asked.
Alex looked up, startled—she’d not heard a word. “I’m sorry.” She should be over there, next to him.
“You’re bound to be very upset, what with all this happening. But we need to know some basic information, and then Officer Blakely and I will drive you home.”
Home. Well at least that sounded positive, they mustn’t have her pinpointed for murder. Not yet, anyway.
“What do you need to know?” She dabbed at her face with a fresh tissue.
“Start at the beginning of the evening.”
“Um, well, okay. Jeremy and I came out here to talk. We like the openness. The solitude. We often drive out here,” Alex swallowed a sob. They did come here a lot. All the time. Why had she killed him in one of their favorite places? “We were over by the fire and the minibus engine turned over. Next thing we know, the minibus was speeding towards us. Jeremy pushed me out the way, and his minibus hit him. Not me,” she echoed the words around her head, praying she’d be convincing enough for them. “Um, the minibus did one of those handbrake turns or something, anyway, it span about and hit Jeremy again.”
“Where were you?” asked Officer Blakely.
“Um, I ran behind the oil drum. I may have fallen over … I don’t know it’s all so confusing, it happened so fast.” Sobs began to shake her body again, and Alex gulped in great breaths of air to try and regain control. Not only was she a murderer, twice over, she was also a gutless liar who couldn’t own up to her treachery. She didn’t deserve the compassion in these people’s eyes. She didn’t deserve to breathe the same air as them.
My Demon Page 14